6. Discrimination
Slides
Individual-level theories
a. Economics
taste-based discrimination (costly and irrational, from employers, co-workers or customers)
statistical discrimination (rational use of proxy info)
b. Social psychology
implicit bias
conflict over scarce resources: realistic and symbolic threats
lack of contact
Bias for VS bias against
a. Discrimination - unlawful
often in form of differential favoring rather than differential harming (victims experience “non-occurence of helpful acts”)
b. Ingroup favoritism - legal (no political or moral motivation for change
opportunity hoarding, passing resources/ info within group
intentional (helping others contributes to a positive sense of self)
(Racial) discrimination
organizations can discriminate irrespective of intention of members: institutional discrimination
impact of historic discrimination lingers
interpersonal, everyday discrimination is also important and cumulates over time
perceived discrimination is imp. too
Field experiment - sending CVs and checking callback rate
Fibbi et al (2021)
Discrimination = behavior/ decision based on ascribed chara. like race/ethnic bg
prejudice describes affective component at the root of biased behav disadvantaging indiv. based on their group membership/ minority position
Internal motivation of actors is rooted in indiv. psychological conflict - e.g. negative attitudes towards minorities
now more covert/ subtle of discrimination → symbolic racism & modern racism
ambivalent attitudes of majority: humanitarian sympathy for underprivileged ppl VS blaming the victims for failing to comply with individualistic values
minority ppl are resented for their disregard of traditional conservative values (e.g. Protestant work ethic)
rn, subtle forms of discrimination rest on the dissociation between inclusive egalitarian attitudes and unconscious pervasive bias, between controlled responses and automatic responses that can be attributed to immediate associations with an evaluative content
theories of “color-blind racism” → approach to diversity where individuals are treated as equally as possible
Labor market influence - gatekeepers rationale
taste-based vs statistical discrimination - difference in notion of rationality
Taste-based discr.
discrimination is explained with reference to direct racial animus among employers because the behavior lacks “objectivity”
Rational behavior is deemed to be based on considerations about productivity alone, and discrimination is thus a result of employers acting based on subjective preferences
Statistical discr.
way to manage imperfect info that characterizes hiring decisions and wage setting
in the absence of full info, race, ethnicity, and sex will be used as proxies for productivity → risk-aversive employers will hire the candidate who is ascribed membership to the group that has the highest average productivity – presumably whites and men
employers use race and ethnic background as proxies of productivity, but that their views of minority applicants often are based on crude stereotypes
ppl are categorized as in group or out group - often based on stereotypes
Social identity theory
indiv. look for positive social identiy
ppl judge in group more positively and compare it advantageously to out-groups + favor in-group (give privileged treatment to in group)
Contact theory
intergroup contact may decrease prejudice and conflict
Realistic conflict theory states that the higher the competition over limited resources, the higher the prejudice and the hostility between groups
Integrated threat theory extends the threat derived from the competition on tangible resources like safety, health, economy, and well-being, to the threat perceived on symbolic interests of the in-group, its beliefs, attitudes, and morals
Organizational mechanisms
perpetuating ingroup preference → resorting to networks to fill a position → monopolization of resources
Structural lvl theories
sediment of the past: cumulative advantage/ disadvantage
historical practices and policies of intentional discrimination project their gloomy shade into the present time through the mechanism of cumulative disparities
Discrimination may indeed cumulate across processes within a domain of social life, such as the labor market: discrimination in hiring or work assignments, for instance, may affect promotion prospects and wage growth. Moreover, discrimination in one social domain may have spillover effects from one domain another, e.g. housing + residential patterns have an impact of occupation: unemployment rates are higher when job opportunities are located far away from the neighborhoods where people live
Institutional discrimination
discrimination helps to reproduce existing power relations among groups and consequently perpetuates ethnic and racial hierarchies