Summary
The field, defined in Kenneth S. Stern’s testimony footnote, of inquiries into the human capacity to define, and then dehumanize or demonize, an other, and the processes which inform and give expression to, or can curtail, control, or combat, that capacity; the Bard Center for the Study of Hate works to increase its serious study (Written Testimony of Kenneth S. Stern, PDF p.1, footnote 2).
Details
- Its component fields run from brain science to social psychology to history; its central lesson for Stern is what happens when human beings enter “us” versus “them” silos over identity-linked questions — craving simplicity and certainty, defaulting to tribal and Binary thinking, and giving symbols outsized importance (PDF p.2-3, p.24).
- Stern recommends Congress encourage more hate studies programs, classes and research so students understand their own thinking in such moments (PDF p.39).
- His national-service proposal in Appendix A is presented as a suggestion from hate studies, resting on the Robbers Cave experiment’s superordinate goal (PDF p.41-42).
Related pages
Written Testimony of Kenneth S. Stern, Bard Center for the Study of Hate, Binary thinking, Antisemitism