Hate Studies Research Articles

Hate Studies: Toward Jesuit Leadership on Curriculum Development

This paper examines how the academic study of hate can be understood through Catholic social justice teachings with an emphasis on the Jesuit commitment to faith and justice to allow for a critical reflection on the relationship between theory and practice. To make the connections between social justice and the study of hate, the paper begins with a description of Hate Studies and a brief overview of the Jesuit conception of social justice as it relates to higher education. Following these descriptions it is explained how Jesuits can influence the development of a curriculum for Hate Studies. The influence is reflected through the five key processes of promoting justice, human dignity, and human rights; integrating faith, scholarship, and activism; involving Catholic colleges and universities with contemporary issues; engaging in reflective practice; and transforming culture.

Revisiting Hateful Science: The Nazi “Contribution” to the Journey of Antisemitism

While this volume of the Journal of Hate Studies is devoted to “The Science of Hate”—research and knowledge about hate’s origins and manifestations seen through the lens of the empirical sciences—this contribution is a cautionary reminder that, like all human projects, intellectual and other, the sciences, too, can be perverted by its practitioners in the service of hate itself.1 The case study is that of the Nazi Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, MD, (1896-1969), eugenicist and geneticist, and, specifically, his (1938) text “Racial Biology of the Jews.” Of particular note is the American “connection,” in supplying both supporting legitimation for the pseudo-science of eugenics and two contemporary examples showing that the ideas of von Verschuer and other members of the German scientific community are far from extinct and continue to play a role in far Right antisemitic movements. The accompanying photographs remind us that this work of hateful science was not confined to intellectual theorizing or laboratory work with lower-order animals, but was made real in the death camps under Nazi hegemony.

The Intensification of Hating: A Theory

Hate, a simple word, is easily understood by young children. But as a concept, hate is vast, complex, and slippery. The study of hate is not limited to one discipline; it is studied throughout the humanities and social sciences. This paper, which presents a psychological theory of hating, argues that hate is an understudied psychological construct and has particular relevance to justice research. Hate can trigger injustice, and injustice has the capacity to trigger derogation, violence, and hate. Relying on four literatures—justice, psychology, psychoanalysis, and criminal justice—we present a theory of hating that describes the formation, perpetuation, and expression of this influential emotional state. The Intensification Theory of Hating describes hate as a dynamic process that moves from antecedents to emotions, cognitions, morals, and behaviors. Hate, we argue, is not only an emotion; it becomes systemic when interactions among its components unfold over time to intensify hate. We conclude by proposing research approaches and questions that could address hate in psychological and justice research.

Hate Studies Through a Constructivist and Critical Pedagogical Approach

Most of us are probably familiar with the child’s lament made during dinner: “I hate vegetables.” If you are a teacher, you may have heard students announce with conviction, “I hate homework.” It seems that everyone hates someone, something, or some action; so what value is there in a field of hate studies? Hate, when discussed as a strong feeling toward something one dislikes, appears simply as an emotion that does not deserve the special recognition of having an entire field committed to its research. However, this narrow focus on this one aspect of hate leaves ignored them very real impact of hateful attitudes and actions on local, national, and international communities. In fact, hate is a common experience of people throughout the world (Bayley, 2002; Waller, 2004).

Let me count the ways: An integrative theory of love and hate

We propose an integrative theory of love and hate intended to help resolve problems and inconsistencies that have emerged from previous conceptualizations. We suggest that love is a motive based on the valuing of the other and is associated with the goal of preserving or promoting the other's well-being. Likewise, hate is a motive based on devaluing the other and is associated with the goal of diminishing or destroying the other's well-being. We further suggest that intense, powerful emotions may serve as eliciting experiences for different types of love and hate, and we discuss how benefiting or harming the other can be either an instrumental or an ultimate goal for the various forms of love and hate. Finally, we discuss some ways in which our theory can promote new directions in the future study of love and hate.

Toward an Interdisciplinary Field of Hate Studies: Developing a Framework

In the last volume of the Journal of Hate Studies, Ken Stern of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) wrote an article addressing the need for what he calls an interdisciplinary field of hate studies. For too long, he argued, academics have studied “hate”1 in isolation. A social psychologist may have approached the subject looking to study the relationship between an individual hater and the hate group to which he belongs; a political scientist or economist might have studied how economic instability or political disenfranchisement contributed to the behavior of some racist or anti-Semite. To put it simply, academics from a variety of disciplines have the resources to examine why people hate, but very few (if any) have had the opportunity to participate in a broader dialogue that includes a plurality of voices. A unified field of hate studies would provide a more complete picture of what hate looks like, why it looks the way it does, and finally (and perhaps most importantly) what we can do to help combat it.

Hate, Oppression, Repression, and the Apocalyptic Style: Facing Complex Questions and Challenges

As we build the field of Hate Studies we need to scrupulously inspect our own work. Blee and Ferber have already suggested a number of complex questions for scholars to answer. This paper argues that understanding the interrelated dynamics of hate, apocalyptic dualism, institutionalized oppression, and political repression is crucial to increasing the accuracy and effectiveness of our research and answering these questions.

Our Ancestral Shadow: Hate and Human Natuere in Evolutionary Psychology

In some unique ways, each of us is like no other human being. In other ways, each of us is like some other human beings. And, in yet some other ways, each of us is like all other human beings. The question of the nature of human nature is captured in this final statement. In what ways are we like every other person that has gone before us and will come after us? This question is particularly relevant to the emerging field of hate studies. Is there an endowment with which each of us begins our life that is important in understanding how, and why, people hate?

Finding Light in the Darkness? The Historical Treatment of Genocide as a Template for the Field of Hate Studies

I am discovering that to teach about the history of Nazism, the Holocaust, and genocide is to enter into a profoundly spiritual experience. By this I mean that in engaging with these subjects, students of history must come to terms with some of the most elemental, existential qualities of the human potential for radical destruction and limitless hatred. The topics force us into a direct confrontation with the concept of ultimate evil: its manifold attractions; its power to deceive and destroy both perpetrators and victims; and yet at the same time, appearing in the midst of the reign of death, the possibility of overcoming evil with good.

The Need for an Interdisciplinary Field of Hate Studies

Hate is a normative part of the human experience. Look at history. Regardless of when, where, under what economic or political system, what major religion is followed, or any other variable, people have always had the capacity to define someone else as an “other,” and hate him, often with deadly results.

'Thoughts awaiting thinkers': Group psychology and educational life

This article draws upon psychoanalytic theory to study the problem of learning from experiences in group psychology. It focuses upon the ignored questions: what is it to think within group psychology? Why is it so difficult for groups to learn from their experience and to theorize their process of development? What sorts of knowledge allow a group its imagination? And, what can a study of love and hate made within groups mean for their theories of knowledge and authority? This article advocates the need for the field of educational leadership to consider the uses of emotional conflict in group psychology and how group psychology may invoke or exceed worries over the loss of individual distinction and the loss of knowledge within groups. It also analyses the group's uses of language, contrasting the instrumental use of language as a means of action and defence against new ideas with language as a method of thought that can work through frustrations, anxieties, and fear of change. Three examples of leaderless groups are offered as illustrations of how groups transform institutional life and their own resistance to making meaning from new ideas.