Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-21T00:24:49.579Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Choosing the right level of analysis: Stereotypes shape social reality via collective action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2017

Ben M. Tappin ,
Ryan T. McKay  and
Dominic Abrams
Ben M. Tappin
Affiliation:
ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United KingdomBen.Tappin.2015@live.rhul.ac.ukRyan.McKay@rhul.ac.ukhttp://tinyurl.com/ryan-mckay School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NP, United KingdomD.Abrams@kent.ac.ukhttps://www.kent.ac.uk/psychology/people/abramsd/index.html
Ryan T. McKay
Affiliation:
ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United KingdomBen.Tappin.2015@live.rhul.ac.ukRyan.McKay@rhul.ac.ukhttp://tinyurl.com/ryan-mckay
Dominic Abrams
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NP, United KingdomD.Abrams@kent.ac.ukhttps://www.kent.ac.uk/psychology/people/abramsd/index.html
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In his 2012 book Jussim argues that the self-fulfilling prophecy and expectancy effects of descriptive stereotypes are not potent shapers of social reality. However, his conclusion that descriptive stereotypes per se do not shape social reality is premature and overly reductionist. We review evidence that suggests descriptive stereotypes do have a substantial influence on social reality, by virtue of their influence on collective action.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e13
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abrams, D. (2015) Social identity and intergroup relations. In: APA handbook of personality and social psychology: Vol. 2. Group processes, ed. Mikulincer, M. & Shaver, P. R., pp. 203–28. American Psychological Association. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/14342-008 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abrams, D. & Grant, P. R. (2012) Testing the social identity relative deprivation (SIRD) model of social change: The political rise of Scottish nationalism. British Journal of Social Psychology 51:674–89. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8309.2011.02032.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Abrams, D. & Hogg, M. A. (2004) Metatheory: Lessons from social identity research. Personality and Social Psychology Review 8:98–106. Special issue on “Theory Construction in Social and Personality Psychology”, ed. Kruglanski, A. W. & Higgins, E. T.. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0802_22 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bamfield, L. & Horton, T. (2009) Understanding attitudes to tackling economic inequality. Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Bashir, N. Y., Lockwood, P., Chasteen, A. L., Nadolny, D. & Noyes, I. (2013) The ironic impact of activists: Negative stereotypes reduce social change influence. European Journal of Social Psychology 43:614–26. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.1983 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, J. C. (2012) The system-stabilizing role of identity management strategies: Social creativity can undermine collective action for social change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 103:647–62. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/a0029240 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Becker, J. C. & Wright, S. C. (2011) Yet another dark side of chivalry: Benevolent sexism undermines and hostile sexism motivates collective action for social change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 101:62–77. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/a0022615 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bosson, J. K., Pinel, E. C. & Vandello, J. A. (2010) The emotional impact of ambivalent sexism: Forecasts versus real experiences. Sex Roles 62:520–31. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9664-y CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, H. E. (2013) Race, legality, and the social policy consequences of anti-immigration mobilization. American Sociological Review 78:290–314. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1177/0003122413476712 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cichocka, A., Winiewski, M., Bilewicz, M., Bukowski, M. & Jost, J. T. (2015) Complementary stereotyping of ethnic minorities predicts system justification in Poland. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations 1–13. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1177/1368430214566891 Google Scholar
Cuddy, A. J., Fiske, S. T. & Glick, P. (2008) Warmth and competence as universal dimensions of social perception: The stereotype content model and the BIAS map. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 40:61–149. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(07)00002-0 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Vries, R. (2015) An evaluation of the nature and effects of negative implicit attitudes towards welfare benefit claimants in the UK. Centre for Experimental Social Sciences (CESS) working paper series. Available at: https://cess-web.nuff.ox.ac.uk/files/pdfs/working_papers/CESS_DP2015_001.pdf Google Scholar
Di Bella, L. & Crisp, R. J. (2015) Imagining oneself in a stereotyped role may stifle generalized tendencies to support social change. Social Influence 10:157–67. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1080/15534510.2015.1030446 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, J., Levine, M., Reicher, S. & Durrheim, K. (2012) Beyond prejudice: Are negative evaluations the problem and is getting us to like one another more the solution? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 35:411–25. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X11002214 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Durante, F., Fiske, S. T., Kervyn, N., Cuddy, A. J., Akande, A. D., Adetoun, B. E., Adewuyi, M. F., Tserere, M. M., Ramiah, A. A., Mastor, K. A., Barlow, F. K., Bonn, G., Tafarodi, R. W., Bosak, J., Cairns, E., Doherty, C., Capozza, D., Chandran, A., Chryssochoou, X,. Iatridis, T., Contreras, J. M., Costa-Lopes, R., Gonzalez, R., Lewis, J. I., Tushabe, G., Leyens, J.-P., Mayorga, R., Rouhana, N. N., Castro, V. S., Perez, R., Rodriguez-Bailon, R., Moya, M., Marente, E. M., Galvez, M. P., Sibley, C. G., Asbrock, F. & Storari, C. C. (2013) Nations’ income inequality predicts ambivalence in stereotype content: How societies mind the gap. British Journal of Social Psychology 52:726–46. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12005 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellemers, N. & Barreto, M. (2009) Collective action in modern times: How modern expressions of prejudice prevent collective action. Journal of Social Issues 65:749–68. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2009.01621.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, M. D. (1999) Acting out against gender discrimination: The effects of different social identities. Sex Roles 40:167–86. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018842803813 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilens, M. (2009) Why Americans hate welfare: Race, media, and the politics of antipoverty policy. The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Glick, P. & Fiske, S. T. (1996) The ambivalent sexism inventory: Differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 70:491–512. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.3.491 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glick, P. & Fiske, S. T. (2001) An ambivalent alliance: Hostile and benevolent sexism as complementary justifications for gender inequality. American Psychologist 56:109–18. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.2.109 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glick, P., Fiske, S. T., Mladinic, A., Saiz, J. L., Abrams, D., Masser, B., Adetoun, B., Osagie, J. E., Akande, A, Alao, A. Annetje, B., Willemsen, T. M., Chipeta, K., Dardenne, B., Dijksterhuis, A., Wigboldus, D., Eckes, T., Six-Materna, I., Exposito, F., Moya, M., Foddy, M., Kim, H.-J., Lameiras, M, Sotelo, M. J., Mucchi-Faina, A., Romani, M., Sakalli, N., Udegbe, B., Yamamoto, M., Ui, M., Ferreria, M. C. & López, W. L. (2000) Beyond prejudice as simple antipathy: Hostile and benevolent sexism across cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79:763–75. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.763 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hardin, R. (1982) Collective action. The John Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurwitz, J. & Peffley, M. (2005) Playing the race card in the post-Willie Horton Era: The impact of racialized code words on support for punitive crime policy. Public Opinion Quarterly 69:99–112. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfi004 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, J. D., Olivo, N., Gibson, N., Reed, W. & Ashburn-Nardo, L. (2009) Priming media stereotypes reduces support for social welfare policies: The mediating role of empathy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 35:463–76. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208329856 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jost, J. T., Chaikalis-Petritsis, V., Abrams, D., Sidanius, J., Van Der Toorn, J. & Bratt, C. (2012) Why men (and Women) do and don't rebel effects of system justification on willingness to protest. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 38:197–208. Available at:http: doi.org/10.1177/0146167211422544CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jost, J. T. & Kay, A. C. (2005) Exposure to benevolent sexism and complementary gender stereotypes: Consequences for specific and diffuse forms of system justification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 88:498–509. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.3.498 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jost, J. T., Kivetz, Y., Rubini, M., Guermandi, G. & Mosso, C. (2005) System-justifying functions of complementary regional and ethnic stereotypes: Cross-national evidence. Social Justice Research 18:305–33. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-005-6827-z CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jussim, L. (2012) Social perception and social reality: Why accuracy dominates bias and self-fulfilling prophecy. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kay, A. C., Czapliński, S. & Jost, J. T. (2009) Left–right ideological differences in system justification following exposure to complementary versus noncomplementary stereotype exemplars. European Journal of Social Psychology 39:290–98. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.500 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kay, A. C. & Jost, J. T. (2003) Complementary justice: Effects of “poor but happy” and “poor but honest” stereotype exemplars on system justification and implicit activation of the justice motive. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 85:823–37. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.5.823 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kluegel, J. R. & Smith, E. R. (1986) Beliefs about inequality: Americans’ view of what is and what ought to be. Transaction Publishers.Google Scholar
Leach, C. W., Iyer, A. & Pedersen, A. (2006) Anger and guilt about ingroup advantage explain the willingness for political action. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 32:1232–45. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1177/0146167206289729 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leach, C. W., Snider, N. & Iyer, A. (2002) “Poisoning the consciences of the fortunate”: The experience of relative advantage and support for social equality. In: Relative deprivation: Specification, development and integration, ed. Walker, I. & Smith, H., pp. 136–63. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lord, C. G., Desforges, D. M., Fein, S., Pugh, M. A. & Lepper, M. R. (1994) Typicality effects in attitudes toward social policies: A concept-mapping approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 66:658–73. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.66.4.658 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maurer, K. L., Park, B. & Judd, C. M. (1996) Stereotypes, prejudice, and judgments of group members: The mediating role of public policy decisions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 32:411–36. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1006/jesp.1996.0019 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moscovici, S. (1981) On social representations. In: Social cognition, ed. Forgas, J. P., pp. 181–209. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Nelson, T. E. & Kinder, D. R. (1996) Issue frames and group-centrism in American public opinion. The Journal of Politics 58:1055–78. Available at: http://doi.org/10.2307/2960149 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oishi, S., Kesebir, S. & Snyder, B. H. (2009) Sociology: A lost connection in social psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review 13:334–53. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309347835 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pettigrew, T. F. (2006) The advantages of multilevel approaches. Journal of Social Issues 62:615–20. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2006.00477.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reyna, C., Henry, P. J., Korfmacher, W. & Tucker, A. (2006) Examining the principles in principled conservatism: The role of responsibility stereotypes as cues for deservingness in racial policy decisions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 90:109–28. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.90.1.109 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saab, R., Tausch, N., Spears, R. & Cheung, W. Y. (2014) Acting in solidarity: Testing an extended dual pathway model of collective action by bystander group members. British Journal of Social Psychology 54:539–60. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12095 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simon, B. & Klandermans, B. (2001) Politicized collective identity: A social psychological analysis. American Psychologist 56:319–31. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.4.319 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stewart, A. L., Pratto, F., Zeineddine, F. B., Sweetman, J., Eicher, V., Licata, L., Morselli, D., Saab, R., Aiello, A,. Chryssochoou, X., Cichocka, A., Cidam, A. Foels, R., Giguere, B., Lui, L., Prati, F. & van Stekelenburg, J. (2016) International support for the Arab uprisings: Understanding sympathetic collective action using theories of social dominance and social identity. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations 19:6–26. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1177/1368430214558310 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swim, J. K., Hyers, L. L., Cohen, L. L. & Ferguson, M. J. (2001) Everyday sexism: Evidence for its incidence, nature, and psychological impact from three daily diary studies. Journal of Social Issues 57:31–53. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00200 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tajfel, H. (1974) Intergroup behaviour, social comparison and social change. Unpublished Katz-Newcomb lectures. University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. (1981) Social stereotypes and social groups. In: Intergroup behaviour, ed. Turner, J. C. & Giles, H., pp. 144–67. Blackwell.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. & Turner, J. C. (1979) An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In: The social psychology of intergroup relations, ed. Austin, W. G. & Worchel, S., pp. 33–47. Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Tausch, N., Becker, J. C., Spears, R., Christ, O., Saab, R., Singh, P. & Siddiqui, R. N. (2011) Explaining radical group behavior: Developing emotion and efficacy routes to normative and nonnormative collective action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 101(1):129–48. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/a0022728 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tilly, C. & Wood, L. J. (2003) Contentious connections in Great Britain, 1828–34. In: Social movements and networks: Relational approaches to collective action, ed. Diani, M. & McAdam, D., pp. 147–72. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Zomeren, M., Postmes, T. & Spears, R. (2012) On conviction's collective consequences: Integrating moral conviction with the social identity model of collective action. British Journal of Social Psychology 51:52–71. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8309.2010.02000.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Zomeren, M., Spears, R. & Leach, C. W. (2008) Exploring psychological mechanisms of collective action: Does relevance of group identity influence how people cope with collective disadvantage? British Journal of Social Psychology 47:353–72. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1348/014466607X231091 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wright, S. C. & Baray, G. (2012) Models of social change in social psychology: Collective action or prejudice reduction? Conflict or harmony? In: Beyond prejudice: Extending the social psychology of conflict, inequality and social change, ed. Dixon, J. & Levine, M., pp. 225–47. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar