Theorizing a Crime Like No Other: Applying Intergroup Threat Theory to Hate Crimes

• In Event: Understanding Hate Crimes from a Theoretical and Empirical Perspective

Abstract

This paper proposes integrated threat theory as a comprehensive theory to explain hate crime. After critically reviewing existing theories, we argue that, to date, this particularly intriguing form of intergroup aggression has only been partially theorized, due to the failure to link macro-level structural factors with micro-level agency of individual perpetrators. While merged theories have attempted to address this gap, the authors contend that the theoretical void has persisted due to an inability to theorize the two-dimensional uniqueness of hate crime (i.e., social and psychological). The present article argues that a social-psychological theory, namely the Intergroup Threat Theory, can be effectively applied to account for the occurrence of hate crime, and explains how the theory could be assessed empirically.

Authors

• Mojtaba Rostami, University of Calgary

• Ashley Veronica Reichelmann, Virginia Tech