What influence has the social context on prejudice? - Chapter 8

According to the realistic conflict theory groups dislike other groups because they compete against them for resources. People want to maximize their rewards in life even if that means taking it away from other people. This leads eventually to prejudice. Research on the realistic conflict theory usually occurs with two equal groups. John Duckitt, however, pointed out that conflicts also arise between different conflict groups. Duckitt developed a schema based on types of conflict that may occur when there’s direct intergroup interaction. The first type is the competition with an equal group. Groups see each other as a threat because of the resources. This will lead to hostility. If one group wins from the other, this group will usually lead to a domination of the outgroup by the ingroup. The dominant group holds negative attitudes towards outgroups. How does a subordinated group respond to the dominant group? One way is stable oppression. That’s accepting the dominance over them and avoiding conflicts that way. Oppressed groups may also take on the dominating group’s value system rejecting their own group values. This is called false consciousness. Because of this members of subordinate groups start to believe that they are inferior and that they deserve the treatment they get. Subordinate groups can also show unstable oppression. These groups reject the stereotypes and develop hostility towards dominating groups. What does the dominating group do then? One of their responses could be to see the challenges as unjustified. They see the subordinated group as threatening. They start acting more hostile and reinforce their view that the subordinated group is inferior. If the dominating group sees the challenge as justified, the subordinated group is given the power to demand change. The dominating group can start treating the subordinated group with true tolerance. Unfortunately, this is usually not the case.

What is the social identity theory?

Social identity is part of a person’s self-concept that derives from membership in groups. Groups can include family, nation and college. A person identifies with a group and when something happens to the group the person feels like it’s happening to him/her as well. This is because your group is part of your social identity. So someone’s view about your group also reflects his/her view on you.

What is the intergroup bias?

When people identify with a group they see the ingroup in a positive light and the outgroup in a negative light. Even when groups don’t interact they show an ingroup bias towards their own group. There are two hypotheses that explain the ingroup bias effect. These are the categorization-competition hypothesis and self-esteem hypothesis.

What is the categorization-competition hypothesis?

The categorization-competition hypothesis holds that categorizing oneself and others into an ingroup and an outgroup is sufficient enought to generate intergroup competition. An outgroup homogeneity effect occurs: members of the outgroup are seen more similar to each other than they actually are and the ingroup members are seen as distinct from each other. Because of this differences between the ingroup and outgroup seem to be greater than they actually are. This process results in people taking an ‘us versus them’ mentality. The groups start competing with each other and if this happens a lot outgroups can be seen as the cause of society’s problems. Keep in mind that intergroup bias only occurs when there are two groups. When there is more than one outgroup intergroup bias will decrease because people’s feelings of competition are defined across more outgroups.

What is the self-esteem hypothesis?

The self-esteem hypothesis is the other hypothesis. People are motivated to achieve and maintain positive social identities. Social identities interact with personal identities and therefore having a positive social identity leads to positive self-esteem. This can also have an effect on intergroup bias. Intergroup bias results in an increase in positive social identity by showing that the ingroup is better than the outgroup. Because engaging in intergroup bias can raise self-esteem people with low self-esteem will engage in intergroup bias to raise self-esteem. When an event threatens someone’s self-esteem this person can defend his/her self-esteem through intergroup bias. Research has found that high self-esteem correlates more with bias than people with low self-esteem. This does not mean that what was previously said about intergroup bias and low self-esteem isn’t true. It only shows that there are different forms of bias and that these can be expressed differently.

Which factors can influence one's social identity?

People can belong to different groups. What factors can affect what social identities or identity are activated?

What is self-categorization?

One of these factors is self-categorization. People are assigned to groups because of certain features. People are more likely to accept this social identity if they self-categorize. That means deciding for themselves to which groups they belong to. This usually depends on the context. People look for distinctiveness which means the things in which they differ from others. An Asian woman is more likely to identify herself as an Asian when she is surrounded by White people. She will identify herself as a woman when she’s surrounded by men. Because of this social categorization changes from situation to situation. One result of self-categorization is that when social identity increases and personal identity decreases group identities and goals become more important than personal identity and personal goals. This is called self-stereotyping. There is also another factor for self-categorization. This is the need for certainty. People have a strong belief that their attitudes are correct. Uncertainty is unpleasant, because people have little control over their lives. People are always motivated to reduce uncertainty in their lives and they usually do this by checking if their own beliefs are correct. One way to do this is by identifying with a group. Group beliefs replace less certain personal beliefs. This reinforces self-categorization. When they are uncertain about certain norms in situations they will identify with groups that provide reduced feelings of uncertainty.

One short-coming of the self-stereotyping hypothesis (that belongs in the self-categorization theory) is that people need to experience themselves as unique individuals. Brewer developed a modification to the self-categorization theory. Which she calls optimal distinctiveness theory. This theory holds that people will most likely identify with groups that provide the most satisfying balance between personal identity and group identity.

There are also other factors that influence social identity. One of those is the threat to a group. When a group is threatened them members identity stronger with the group. Individual differences can also influence social identity. Some people for example, identify more often with ethnic groups than with other groups they belong to.

What are issues in the social identity theory?

There are some issues surrounding the social identity theory. Some of these include whether social identity processes can lead to outgroup derogation and ingroup favouritism, the factors that determine whether someone will respond with aggression to a fellow group member and the relation between social identity and intergroup tolerance.

Research showed that favouritism towards members of the ingroup does not automatically mean that the outgroup will be treated badly. People are not only part of their own group, but also part of a society that consists of more groups. Usually these other groups are respected. When we hear about the research findings, we wonder how this can be, because there are examples of group favouritism leading to discrimination. Why is this? Well, sometimes one group member is hurt and other group members decide to take revenge even if they themselves have not been harmed. This is called vicarious retribution. There are certain factors on which showing vicarious retribution depends. Some of these factors are motivation, whether the initial aggressive act was due to conflict between the ingroup and outgroup, group pride and cultural norms (especially whether cultural norms suggest that retaliation is approved).

What is the link between social identity and intergroup tolerance?

Research is now focusing on how social identity relates to intergroup tolerance. Some researchers suggest that ingroup identification can lead to tolerance rather than hostility. This is the case when the ingroup doesn’t see their own values as more valid than those of the outgroup. Also, the more complex someone’s social identity is, the more tolerant to other groups that person will be. People with one social identity focus only on that one identity and see only people who share that one identity as part of the ingroup.

What is the relative deprivation theory?

The relative deprivation theory focuses on how people become dissatisfied with some aspects of their lives and how they react to that. People can become dissatisfied because they compare their current situation with a situation they once experienced or compare themselves to other people currently in their situation. They then feel that they have been deprived of something (usually resources). Their objective situation might be very good yet they feel that relative to what they had or relative to others they have little resources.

That’s why this is called relative deprivation. If people blame another group for their deprivation they might come to resent them. When people from societies expect that certain factors will improve and these don’t they will feel deprived of them. Feelings of deprivation might also arise when procedural justice is low. This is farness of the process by which rewards are distributed. If someone expects a certain award for an accomplishment and gets something else, less rewarding, he or she might feel deprived. Especially when another person gets the reward the first person wanted while the first person thinks that this person did not deserve this reward.

What are types of relative deprivation?

There are two types of relative deprivation. The first type is personal (or egoistic) relative deprivation. This is the degree to which a person feels deprived as an individual. Group (or fraternal) relative deprivation is the second type of deprivation. This refers to the degree to which a person feels that a group he/she identifies with has been deprived of something. Group relative deprivation is related to prejudice and personal relative deprivation is not.

What is relative gratification?

People can also feel that things are getting better. This is called relative gratification. This seems positive, but relative gratification may also lead to prejudice. This may occur because people who are relatively gratified focus on their groups’ superior position relative to outgroups. They say negative things about outgroups because they try to justify their advantaged position.

What is the integrated threat theory?

The different theories that were discussed (like the realistic conflict theory, the social identity theory and relative deprivation theory) are closely linked. The integrated threat theory combines these theories. According to this theory, there are three types of threats to one’s ingroup: intergroup anxiety, perceptions of realistic threats and perceptions of symbolic threats. Intergroup anxiety consists of factors that make people feel anxious to be around members of other groups. Perceptions of realistic threat derive from conflicts between groups. Symbolic threats come from perceptions that outgroup and ingroup differ in values, attitudes and beliefs. Usually the ingroup thinks that the outgroup is trying to undermine these values. Identification with the ingroup is associated with more investment in group values and seeing more differences between groups. Because of this, people who identify more with the ingroup, perceive the outgroup more as threatening.

What does a hate group membership mean?

A hate group is a group whose central principles are hostility towards racial and religious minority groups. Most hate groups glorify White supremacy and are for segregation of groups. Some hate groups are religious others are not and some hate groups are well organized while others are lose coalitions of small groups. Hate groups hold certain activities, like meetings, rallies, protests, running websites and producing racist music. Although these groups sound very dangerous, but they rarely initiate violent activities. The next section will deal with studying the psychological factors that predispose people to join a group, how to recruit new members, how to teach them how to behave and what leads people to leave a group.

Why would people join hate groups?

There are different factors that lead people to join hate groups, not just one factor. One of these factors is racial attitudes. People, who don’t hold racial attitudes, are less likely to join hate groups. Most hate groups express everyday racism or cultural racism. They propose that the only correct social values are the European Christian values. This promotes negative stereotypes towards minority groups. Everyday racism is displayed as making jokes about minority groups and feeling uncomfortable in their presence. They see themselves as unprejudiced. Once a person gets into a group, this everyday racism can turn into extraordinary racism. This is extreme racism.

Another factor for joining hate groups is searching for solutions. When something bad happens to someone, he or she wants to know why this happened, what the causes were of this event. By joining hate groups, they think they can find an answer to this question. People search for a certain purpose in life and thinks they can find this in hate groups. Some people join these groups because they have certain grievances. They think that they’ve been treated unfairly and hate groups might say that this is caused by minority members.

Another factor could be the search for close ties. Some people really don’t have a lot of family or friends and they try to find somewhere to belong to. Also, another reason to join hate groups is because one wants to make the world a better place.

Especially young people are sensitive to joining hate groups. One factor is youth rebellion. Sometimes young people just want to rebel against the current political doctrine and join hate groups. Young men also like the violent images the group projects. If brings a sense of danger and this appeals to them. Usually most groups exist of men. This is probably because of the violence such groups promote. Violence appeals less to women than to men. Also, a lot of hate groups promote traditional gender roles.

How to recruit hate group members and what is group socialization?

Having a psychological predisposition to joining hate groups is not enough for actually joining groups. New hate group members must be recruited. The recruiter is usually someone the potential new member knows. This recruiter is somebody the potential new member trusts and respects, like a family member or friend. After gaining the trust of this member the recruiter will talk about political issues and see if the potential new member feels the same. If the potential new member feels the same the recruiter will invite him/her to a group event. This event seems to be normal with some music and food and new recruits will think that this group is ‘just normal’ and not racial maniacs.

What is group socialization?

Groups socialize new members by a number of things. One of these things is formal education. New members watch videos, read books and get lectures about the group. This, however, doesn’t help that well because a lot of videos are of poor quality and members will usually tune out. Discussing with other group members, however, gives people lots of information. Rituals is also a socializing process. This includes singing racist songs, dressing up in ritual clothing and participating in marches. These rituals promote group unity and increase members’ commitment to the group. If one takes action on behalf of a group, one will be more invested in the group. Putting energy in a group means one has more to lose by leaving the group. When one has been part of the group for a certain amount of time, he or she will spend more time with group members then with family members. This has two effects. The first one is that group members receive support for their beliefs; the second one is that they get isolated from information that may contradict their beliefs or views.

People get more extreme beliefs when they are in a group they seem to see violence as acceptable and they begin to see negative events in the world as being caused by ethnic groups.

Can you leave the group?

There are two factors that are important for leaving hate groups. The first is disenchantment with the group. This can happen when one’s group membership is disapproved by family members. If the group member wants to keep a tight relationship with his/her family he or she will leave the group. Also, one might have too little time for his/her job because of the group membership. If he or she really wants to keep his or her job he or she will leave the group. Some group members leave the group because they’ve lost their faith in the group’s ideology. Another factor for disenchantment is violence. Some members really don’t like the extreme actions/visions of a group and decide to leave.

The other factor is relationship outside the group. Hate group members usually break their ties with family members or friends. When they feel disenchantment with the group, they might not be willing to leave the group, because they don’t have any other support system anymore. When this person establishes an relationship with someone who is not in the group, he or she might be more willing to leave the group. So if you have a friend or family member that joins a hate group don’t break social ties but keep in touch with this person.