The Harms of Hate Crime: From Structural Disadvantage to Individual Identity

Abstract

Chapter 3 provides a comprehensive analysis of the harms caused by hate crime/incidents, drawing upon the existing body of research and findings from the current study. It is argued that hate incidents contribute to a continuum of prejudice and victimization which is rooted in socio-structural inequality. The chapter examines how those who display identity difference become subjugated through a process of what Barbara Perry terms ‘dominance over difference’, resulting in the ‘othering’ of certain minority individuals (Perry 2001). Such individuals experience various forms of structural and institutional discrimination that affect almost all aspects of their lives. The targeting of individuals because of their identity characteristics therefore acts to compound pre-existing experiences of structural disadvantage and damages individuals’ ontological security within society, thus compounding even further their feelings of fear, anger, and anxiety. This chapter provides theoretical and empirical grounding for the findings reported in Chapters 4, 5, and 6.