Stanton first conceived and published the model in the 1987 Faulds Lecture at Warren Wilson College, also presented to the American Anthropological Association in 1987.
The next stages, symbolization and dehumanization, involve the assignment of labels and stereotypes to the targeted group that reinforce their inferior status in the eyes of the perpetrators.
These stages are often followed by organization, polarization, and preparation, where the perpetrators mobilize support for their genocidal campaign, by way of persecution, to isolate and marginalize the targeted group, and plan and execute extermination of the members and finally denial of any crimes.
Sociologist Helen Fein showed that pre-existing antisemitism was correlated with the percentage of Jews who were killed in European countries during the Holocaust.
For instance: Stanton has suggested that "ultimately, the best antidote to genocide is popular education and the development of social and cultural tolerance for diversity.