Playing by the Rules? An Investigation of the Relationship Between Social Norms and Adolescents’ Hate Speech Perpetration in Schools

Abstract

Hate speech is often discussed and investigated as an online phenomenon, while hate speech among adolescents in the real world (e.g., in schools) has rarely been researched. Consequently, not much is known about potential interpersonal correlates and theoretical frameworks that might help us better understand why adolescents engage in hate speech in offline environments. To add to the literature, this study investigates hate speech perpetration among young people by utilizing the Social Cognitive Theory; more specifically, the association between witnessing and perpetrating hate speech in schools, and whether this relation is weakened or strengthened by anti-hate speech injunctive norms and deviant peer pressure. The sample consists of 1719 young people (45.1% boys, 53.6% girls, 1.3% gender diverse) between 11 and 18 years old ( Mage = 13.96; SD = .98) from 22 schools in Switzerland. Self-report questionnaires were administered to measure hate speech involvement and adolescents’ perception of social norms (i.e., anti-hate speech injunctive norms and deviant peer pressure). Multilevel regression analyses revealed that witnessing and perpetrating hate speech were positively associated. Moreover, injunctive anti-hate speech norms were negatively related and deviant peer pressure positively related to hate speech perpetration. Finally, increasing levels of injunctive anti-hate speech norms weakened the relation between witnessing and perpetrating hate speech, whereas higher levels of deviant peer pressure strengthened this association. The findings demonstrate that the Social Cognitive Theory is a useful framework for understanding hate speech perpetration in schools. The results also highlight the importance of taking into account social norms and interpersonal relationships (e.g., within the class) when designing anti-hate speech prevention programs and not focusing solely on intrapersonal factors.

Associations Between Classroom Climate, Empathy, Self-Efficacy, and Countering Hate Speech Among Adolescents: A Multilevel Mediation Analysis

“…This result might also partially explain the initial research that revealed a negative association between a better school climate and less hate speech witnessing and victimization in schools ( Lehman, 2019 ). Furthermore, the present study extends previous research that has found that social norms within classrooms are related to adolescents’ engagement in hate speech as perpetrators ( Ballaschk et al, 2021 ; Wachs, Wettstein et al, 2022c , 2022d ).…”

“…One study found that fair and transparent school rules are negatively linked to hate speech witnessing and victimization in schools ( Lehman, 2019 ). Other research documented that social norms within classrooms favoring hate speech are linked positively to adolescents’ hate speech perpetration ( Ballaschk et al, 2021 ; Wachs, Wettstein et al, 2022c , 2022d ). Adding to this line of research, the present study investigates whether classroom climate is positively related to counterspeech.…”

Associations between Coping Strategies and Cyberhate Involvement: Evidence from Adolescents across Three World Regions

“…According to this study, cyberhate perpetration can be understood as a possible reaction to feeling helpless concerning how to deal with cyberhate constructively. This assumption is further supported by current research with students showing that adolescents perpetrate hate speech (online and offline) to compensate for feelings of frustration and inferiority [ 16 , 70 ]. Our findings are in line with prior research that showed a positive relationship between non-productive coping and online or offline victimization [ 20 , 30 , 31 , 46 , 56 ], as well as online and offline perpetration [ 31 , 35 , 56 , 57 ].…”

Hostile-emotional excess of zeal in public social media: A case study of an online firestorm against an organization

“…The symbolic use of language differs along educational level with the use of swear words tending to be more common in lower-educated groups (e.g. Wachs et al, 2021). In the context of this study, however, education is a control variable, as the non-justification of norm violations and the use of insults are caused by common underlying third variables, such as social background.…”