PSYCHOLOGY AND PREJUDICE - A HISTORICAL-ANALYSIS AND INTEGRATIVE FRAMEWORK

No adequate general theories or integrative framework exist for understanding prejudice. Limited theories have proliferated, and a number of competing paradigms emerged that have been theoretically dominant during quite different historical periods. These systematic shifts do not just represent a systematic evolution of knowledge. A historical analysis focusing on explanations of racial prejudice suggests that different theoretical orientations typically emerged in response to specific social and historical circumstances. It is suggested that these shifts in theoretical orientation represent responses to substantively different but equally valid questions about the nature of the causal processes involved in prejudice. Four such basic causal processes emerge from the analysis that can be combined into an integrative framework providing a reasonably complete understanding of prejudice.