A Database and Analysis of Intergroup Hostility

This project aims to advance understanding of intergroup conflict through assembly of a comprehensive database and through tests of theoretically derived hypotheses using that database. The database will cover the years 1990-2017 and will avoid some of the limitations of earlier data collections, which relied on official estimates that often underestimated the frequencies of hostile events. The analysis will investigate the effect of community context on how likely intergroup conflict is to occur as well as the effect of hostility on the groups under attack. The database will be available to the public and policymakers. Findings from the analysis will be useful to policymakers, groups facing hostility, and other concerned parties seeking to reduce intergroup hostility in American communities.

Multiple sources and strategies will be used to create the database of hostile events and the communities where these events occurred. Information on the events will be culled from newspapers, FBI statistics, and independent groups and will be coded for characteristics, location, time, and media coverage. This data will be supplemented with GIS data on the event location and survey data on the relevant groups. The spatial and longitudinal database will allow testing of several predictions, for example, concerning the effects of group concentrations and effects of positive advocacy events. These predictions will be tested with appropriate statistical methods and the results will inform theories concerning intergroup relations, civil society and collective action.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.