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MENTAL MODEL · M6037

Allport's Scale of Prejudice

Allport's Scale of Prejudice
BehaviorHigh supportSocial Psychology
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Updated 2026-08-05

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

Gordon Allport's scale describes how prejudice escalates through five stages: antilocution, speaking against a group; avoidance; discrimination, institutional exclusion; physical attack; and extermination. The warning is that genocide does not arrive suddenly; it begins with ordinary slights and jokes. Stopping the descent requires vigilance at the first stage, because what looks like harmless talk is in fact the entry point of the slope.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

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- Stage placement: locate current group tension on the five rungs before choosing a response. - Early intervention: act at speech and avoidance rather than waiting for visible harm. - Structure watch: monitor institutional discrimination, where private prejudice hardens into policy.

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Each stage lowers the barrier to the next: speech normalizes the group as an object, avoidance removes the contact that could correct it, discrimination makes exclusion official, and violence then arrives on already prepared ground. Escalation is a process, not a single event.

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allport's_ScaleZH · Explicit
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