Gordon W. Allport was born in 1897 in Montezuma, Indiana. He received his A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. in psychology
from Harvard University, did postgraduate work abroad, and returned to Harvard in 1930, where he served as professor
of psychology until his death in 1967. During his lifetime, Allport served as president of both the American and
Eastern Psychological Associations, director of the National Opinion Research Center, and editor of the Journal
of Abnormal and Social Psychology. His other books included The Psychology of Rumor, The Individual and His Religion,
Personality, and Becoming.
Review
"The Nature of Prejudice is a remarkable mixture of careful scholarship and humane values.� The book has
influenced an entire generation of social psychologists, and deservedly so."
--Elliot Aronson, Human Nature Magazine
"Probably the most comprehensive study of all aspects of this problem which has yet appeared."
--Journal of Personality
Perseus Books Group Web Site, December, 2001
Summary
With profound insight into the complexities of the human experience, Harvard psychologist Gordon Allport organized
a mass of research to produce a landmark study on the roots and nature of prejudice. First published in 1954, The
Nature of Prejudice remains the standard work on discrimination. Now this classic study is offered in a special
unabridged edition with a new introduction by Kenneth Clark of Columbia University and a new preface by Thomas
Pettigrew of Harvard University.Allport's comprehensive and penetrating work examines all aspects of this age-old
problem: its roots in individual and social psychology, its varieties of expression, its impact on the individuals
and communities. He explores all kinds of prejudice-racial, religious, ethnic, economic and sexual-and offers suggestions
for reducing the devastating effects of discrimination.The additional material by Clark and Pettigrew updates the
social-psychological research in prejudice and attests to the enduring values of Allport's original theories and
insights.
Table of Contents
Preferential Thinking What Is the Problem?
The Normality of Prejudgment
Formation of In-Groups
Rejection of Out-Groups
Patterning and Extent of Prejudice Group Differences The Scientific Study of Group Differences
Racial and Ethnic Differences
Visibility and Strangeness
Traits Due to Victimization Perceiving And Thinking About Group Differences The Cognitive Process
Linguistic Factors
Stereotypes in Our Culture
Theories of Prejudice Sociocultural Factors Social Structure And Cultural Pattern
Choice of Scapegoats
The Effect of Contact Acquiring Prejudice Conforming
The Young Child
Later Learning
Inner Conflict The Dynamics Of Prejudice Frustration
Aggression and Hatred
Anxiety, Sex, and Guilt
Projection Character Structure The Prejudiced Personality
Demagogy
The Tolerant Personality
Religion and Prejudice Reducing Group Tensions Ought There to Be a Law?
Evaluation of Programs
Limitations and Horizons
