Ethnic tolerance; a function of social and personal control.

Abstract

Socioeconomic charateristics failed to explain the variations in ethnic hostility found in an intensively studied group of veterans. A significant association emerged between ethnic hostility and social mobility, as well as feelings of deprivation. The character of the person's controls, particularly his tendency to submit to social controls, accounted for tolerance of minorities in line with the level of the community's "tolerance" of these minorities. The stereotypes used to describe Jews and Negroes are related to the individual's defensive needs.