Group threat theory

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Group threat theory, also known as group position theory, [1] is a sociological theory that proposes the larger the size of an outgroup, the more the corresponding ingroup perceives it to threaten its own interests, resulting in the ingroup members having more negative attitudes toward the outgroup. [2] It is based on the work of Herbert Blumer and Hubert M. Blalock Jr. in the 1950s and 1960s, and has since been supported by multiple studies. [2] [3] [4] [5] Other studies have not found support for the theory. [6] Its predictions are contrary to those of the contact hypothesis, which posits that greater proximity between racial/ethnic groups under appropriate conditions can effectively reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members. [7]

Contents

Origins of research

Herbert Blumer's Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position

While heading the department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, Blumer wrote a paper on "Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position". [8] Blumer posited that racial prejudice primarily comes from the relative position of an in-group and out-group rather than individual perceptions of certain races. [8] He investigated the four types of feelings which he said are prevalent in the dominant group within racial prejudice, which include feelings of: 1) superiority, 2) foreign and intrinsic differences in subordinate races, 3) proprietary claim of advantages and privileges in the majority, and 4) fear in the taking of prerogatives from the dominant race. [8] Upon concluding his paper, he noted the implications of[ clarification needed ] continuing to understand and explore the group position in tackling the origins of racial bias.

Hubert M. Blalock Jr.'s Toward A Theory of Minority-Group Relations

As a professor from the University of Washington, Blalock studied the relations between ethnic groups which seemingly had a majority-minority group dynamic and observed their interactions and relationships. [9] Through his findings, Blalock further established the racial threat theory, which refers to when a minority-ethnicity group is growing faster than the majority-ethnicity, it leads to the majority-ethnicity group forcing social control over the minority-ethnicity group. [9] He brought to focus[ clarification needed ] three main forms of threat perceived by the majority population: economic threat, which includes the loss of jobs or opportunities, political threat, which involves the fear of giving up political control to minority groups, and symbolic threats, which bring about[ incomprehensible ] esteemed symbols in minority populations. [9] His studies dealt with various different races, but focused mainly upon Negro-white relations with references to other ethnic groups such as the Jews and the Union of South Africa. The empirical studies showed a consistency in the perception of threat found in individuals of the majority groups, leading to responses of violence and discrimination in efforts to maintain their own security. [9]

Further findings

The group threat theory was not only found prevalent in the United States, but also included in a much wider intercultural scale.[ clarification needed ] Studies within a European context found similar results that related to socio-economic and political standing rather than solely racial differences in groups. There was found to be a relation between the identity which people identified with, in terms of the majority- or minority-group, and the effects of the group threat theory they felt. [10] The study also focused on observing immigrants and citizens as majority- or minority-groups. [10]

On the other hand, studies have also shown that those in majority-groups who have had more contact with minority-group individuals have shown tendencies of lower feelings of threat. Approachability[ clarification needed ] was found more common in a study on the contact hypothesis on Black Anti-Semitism with individuals who have had at least one contact with those of the minority demographic. [11] It was also found that within criminal prosecutions with majority-groups against minority-group defendants, that there was no significance in the threats found by majority-groups and more people did not find a connection between a prosecution and a minority-race. [12]

In an extended study, the effects of the group threat theory due to stereotype threats were measured by performance in the work place. It was found that the prevalence of stereotype threat imposed by majority groups led to lower performance scores in jobs, in studies specifically on African-American workers. [13] Performance scores the difference between scores of the majority racio-ethnic groups and the minority racio-ethnic groups tended to be lower without the presence of the stereotype threats imposed by the majority. [13] There were observations on the possible effects of the group threat theory on the minority-group, rather than just noticing the presence of differences caused by group threat.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prejudice</span> Attitudes based on preconceived categories

Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's perceived personal characteristics, such as political affiliation, sex, gender, gender identity, beliefs, values, social class, age, disability, religion, sexuality, race, ethnicity, language, nationality, culture, complexion, beauty, height, body weight, occupation, wealth, education, criminality, sport-team affiliation, music tastes or other perceived characteristics.

The out-group homogeneity effect is the perception of out-group members as more similar to one another than are in-group members, e.g. "they are alike; we are diverse". Perceivers tend to have impressions about the diversity or variability of group members around those central tendencies or typical attributes of those group members. Thus, outgroup stereotypicality judgments are overestimated, supporting the view that out-group stereotypes are overgeneralizations. The term "outgroup homogeneity effect", "outgroup homogeneity bias" or "relative outgroup homogeneity" have been explicitly contrasted with "outgroup homogeneity" in general, the latter referring to perceived outgroup variability unrelated to perceptions of the ingroup.

Social dominance orientation (SDO) is a personality trait measuring an individual's support for social hierarchy and the extent to which they desire their in-group be superior to out-groups. SDO is conceptualized under social dominance theory as a measure of individual differences in levels of group-based discrimination; that is, it is a measure of an individual's preference for hierarchy within any social system and the domination over lower-status groups. It is a predisposition toward anti-egalitarianism within and between groups.

System justification theory (SJT) is a theory within social psychology that system-justifying beliefs serve a psychologically palliative function. It proposes that people have several underlying needs, which vary from individual to individual, that can be satisfied by the defense and justification of the status quo, even when the system may be disadvantageous to certain people. People have epistemic, existential, and relational needs that are met by and manifest as ideological support for the prevailing structure of social, economic, and political norms. Need for order and stability, and thus resistance to change or alternatives, for example, can be a motivator for individuals to see the status quo as good, legitimate, and even desirable.

In psychology and other social sciences, the contact hypothesis suggests that intergroup contact under appropriate conditions can effectively reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members. Following WWII and the desegregation of the military and other public institutions, policymakers and social scientists had turned an eye towards the policy implications of interracial contact. Of them, social psychologist Gordon Allport united early research in this vein under intergroup contact theory.

The cross-race effect is the tendency to more easily recognize faces that belong to one's own racial group. In social psychology, the cross-race effect is described as the "ingroup advantage," whereas in other fields, the effect can be seen as a specific form of the "ingroup advantage" since it is only applied in interracial or inter-ethnic situations. The cross-race effect is thought to contribute to difficulties in cross-race identification, as well as implicit racial bias.

Realistic conflict theory (RCT), also known as realistic group conflict theory (RGCT), is a social psychological model of intergroup conflict. The theory explains how intergroup hostility can arise as a result of conflicting goals and competition over limited resources, and it also offers an explanation for the feelings of prejudice and discrimination toward the outgroup that accompany the intergroup hostility. Groups may be in competition for a real or perceived scarcity of resources such as money, political power, military protection, or social status.

Aversive racism is a theory proposed by Samuel L. Gaertner & John F. Dovidio (1986), according to which negative evaluations of racial/ethnic minorities are realized by a persistent avoidance of interaction with other racial and ethnic groups. As opposed to traditional, overt racism, which is characterized by overt hatred for and discrimination against racial/ethnic minorities, aversive racism is characterized by more complex, ambivalent expressions and attitudes nonetheless with prejudicial views towards other races. Aversive racism arises from unconscious personal beliefs taught during childhood. Subtle racist behaviors are usually targeted towards African Americans. Workplace discrimination is one of the best examples of aversive racism. Biased beliefs on how minorities act and think affect how individuals interact with minority members.

The social identity model of deindividuation effects is a theory developed in social psychology and communication studies. SIDE explains the effects of anonymity and identifiability on group behavior. It has become one of several theories of technology that describe social effects of computer-mediated communication.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stereotype</span> Generalized but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing

In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example, an expectation about the group's personality, preferences, appearance or ability. Stereotypes are sometimes overgeneralized, overanalyzed, and inaccurate, and resistant to new information, but can sometimes be accurate. A stereotype does not necessarily need to be a negative assumption. They may be positive, neutral, or negative.

Ambivalent prejudice is a social psychological theory that states that, when people become aware that they have conflicting beliefs about an outgroup, they experience an unpleasant mental feeling generally referred to as cognitive dissonance. These feelings are brought about because the individual on one hand believes in humanitarian virtues such as helping those in need, but on the other hand also believes in individualistic virtues such as working hard to improve one's life.

The imagined contact hypothesis is an extension of the contact hypothesis, a theoretical proposition centred on the psychology of prejudice and prejudice reduction. It was originally developed by Richard J. Crisp and Rhiannon N. Turner and proposes that the mental simulation, or imagining, of a positive social interaction with an outgroup member can lead to increased positive attitudes, greater desire for social contact, and improved group dynamics. Empirical evidence supporting the imagined contact hypothesis demonstrates its effectiveness at improving explicit and implicit attitudes towards and intergroup relations with a wide variety of stigmatized groups including religious minorities, the mentally ill, ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, and obese individuals. Researchers have identified a number of factors that influence the effectiveness of the imagined contact hypothesis including vividness of the imagery and how typical the imagined outgroup individual is. While some researchers question the effectiveness of the imagined contact hypothesis, empirical evidence does suggest it is effective at improving attitudes towards outgroups.

Intergroup anxiety is the social phenomenon identified by Walter and Cookie Stephan in 1985 that describes the ambiguous feelings of discomfort or anxiety when interacting with members of other groups. Such emotions also constitute intergroup anxiety when one is merely anticipating interaction with members of an outgroup. Expectations that interactions with foreign members of outgroups will result in an aversive experience is believed to be the cause of intergroup anxiety, with an affected individual being anxious or unsure about a number of issues. Methods of reducing intergroup anxiety and stress including facilitating positive intergroup contact.

The common ingroup identity model is a theoretical model proposed by Samuel L. Gaertner and John F. Dovidio that outlines the processes through which intergroup bias may be reduced. Intergroup bias is a preference for one's in-group over the out-group. Derived from the social identity approach to intergroup behaviour, the common ingroup identity model is rooted in the process of social categorization, or how people conceive of group boundaries. The model describes how intergroup bias can be reduced if members of different groups can be induced to conceive of themselves to be part of the same group, then they would develop more positive attitudes of the former outgroup members. An individual will change the way they view the out-group through a social categorization process called recategorization where former out-group members become incorporated into individual's representations of the in-group.

There is a great deal of research on the factors that lead to the formation of prejudiced attitudes and beliefs. There is also a lot of research on the consequences of holding prejudiced beliefs and being the target of such beliefs. It is true that advances have been made in understanding the nature of prejudice. A consensus on how to end prejudice has yet to be established, but there are a number of scientifically examined strategies that have been developed in attempt to solve this social issue.

Integrated threat theory (ITT), also known as intergroup threat theory, is a theory in psychology and sociology which attempts to describe the components of perceived threat that lead to prejudice between social groups. The theory applies to any social group that may feel threatened in some way, whether or not that social group is a majority or minority group in their society. This theory deals with perceived threat rather than actual threat. Perceived threat includes all of the threats that members of group believe they are experiencing, regardless of whether those threats actually exist. For example, people may feel their economic well-being is threatened by an outgroup stealing their jobs even if, in reality, the outgroup has no effect on their job opportunities. Still, their perception that their job security is under threat can increase their levels of prejudice against the outgroup. Thus, even false alarms about threat still have "real consequence" for prejudice between groups.

Intergroup relations refers to interactions between individuals in different social groups, and to interactions taking place between the groups themselves collectively. It has long been a subject of research in social psychology, political psychology, and organizational behavior.

In social psychology, a metastereotype is a stereotype that members of one group have about the way in which they are stereotypically viewed by members of another group. In other words, it is a stereotype about a stereotype. They have been shown to have adverse effects on individuals that hold them, including on their levels of anxiety in interracial conversations. Meta-stereotypes held by African Americans regarding the stereotypes White Americans have about them have been found to be largely both negative and accurate. People portray meta-stereotypes of their ingroup more positively when talking to a member of an outgroup than to a fellow member of their ingroup.

Diversity ideology refers to individual beliefs regarding the nature of intergroup relations and how to improve them in culturally diverse societies. A large amount of scientific literature in social psychology studies diversity ideologies as prejudice reduction strategies, most commonly in the context of racial groups and interracial interactions. In research studies on the effects of diversity ideology, social psychologists have either examined endorsement of a diversity ideology as individual difference or used situational priming designs to activate the mindset of a particular diversity ideology. It is consistently shown that diversity ideologies influence how individuals perceive, judge and treat cultural outgroup members. Different diversity ideologies are associated with distinct effects on intergroup relations, such as stereotyping and prejudice, intergroup equality, and intergroup interactions from the perspectives of both majority and minority group members. Beyond intergroup consequences, diversity ideology also has implications on individual outcomes, such as whether people are open to cultural fusion and foreign ideas, which in turn predict creativity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axes of subordination</span>

In social psychology, the two axes of subordination is a racial position model that categorizes the four most common racial groups in the United States into four different quadrants. The model was first proposed by Linda X. Zou and Sapna Cheryan in the year 2017, and suggests that U.S. racial groups are categorized based on two dimensions: perceived inferiority and perceived cultural foreignness. Support for the model comes from both a target and perceivers perspective in which Whites are seen as superior and American, African Americans as inferior and American, Asian Americans as superior and foreign, and Latinos as inferior and foreign.

References

  1. ↑ Thompson, Derek (2016-05-13). "Donald Trump and the Twilight of White America". The Atlantic.
  2. 1 2 Schlueter, Elmar; Scheepers, Peer (March 2010). "The relationship between outgroup size and anti-outgroup attitudes: A theoretical synthesis and empirical test of group threat- and intergroup contact theory". Social Science Research. 39 (2): 285–295. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2009.07.006. hdl: 11370/a16d7bfe-0b28-4542-b8b1-2db75a3714e9 .
  3. ↑ Kanas, Agnieszka; Scheepers, Peer; Sterkens, Carl (June 2015). "Interreligious Contact, Perceived Group Threat, and Perceived Discrimination". Social Psychology Quarterly. 78 (2): 102–126. doi:10.1177/0190272514564790. hdl: 2066/141660 . S2CID   145440561.
  4. ↑ Eitle, D; Taylor, J (December 2008). "Are Hispanics the new 'threat'? Minority group threat and fear of crime in Miami-Dade County". Social Science Research. 37 (4): 1102–15. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2008.05.005. PMC   4221266 . PMID   19227693.
  5. ↑ Dixon, Jeffrey C.; Rosenbaum, Michael S. (June 2004). "Nice to Know You? Testing Contact, Cultural, and Group Threat Theories of Anti-Black and Anti-Hispanic Stereotypes*". Social Science Quarterly. 85 (2): 257–280. doi:10.1111/j.0038-4941.2004.08502003.x.
  6. ↑ Hjerm, Mikael (October 2007). "Do Numbers Really Count? Group Threat Theory Revisited". Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 33 (8): 1253–1275. doi:10.1080/13691830701614056. S2CID   144658759.
  7. ↑ Dixon, J. C. (1 June 2006). "The Ties That Bind and Those That Don't: Toward Reconciling Group Threat and Contact Theories of Prejudice". Social Forces. 84 (4): 2179–2204. doi:10.1353/sof.2006.0085. S2CID   145282643.
  8. 1 2 3 Blumer, Herbert (1958). "Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position". The Pacific Sociological Review. 1 (1): 3–7. doi:10.2307/1388607. ISSN   0030-8919. JSTOR   1388607. S2CID   147757775.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Blalock, Hubert (1967). Toward a Theory of Minority-Group Relations . New York: Wiley. ISBN   978-0-471-07933-0.
  10. 1 2 Garcia-Faroldi, Livia (March 13, 2017). "Determinants of Attitudes towards Immigration: Testing the Influence of Interculturalism, Group Threat Theory and National Contexts in Time of Crisis". International Migration. 55 (2): 10–22. doi:10.1111/imig.12261.
  11. ↑ Tsukashima, Ronald Tadao; Montero, Darrel (September 1976). "The Contact Hypothesis: Social Economic Contact and Generational Changes in the Study of Black Anti-Semitism". Social Forces. 55 (1): 149–165. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.887.4703 . doi:10.2307/2577100. JSTOR   2577100.
  12. ↑ Free, Marvin D. Jr. (January 2005). "Prosecutorial decision making and minority group‐threat theory". Criminal Justice Studies. 18 (1): 7–28. doi:10.1080/14786010500071071. ISSN   1478-601X. S2CID   218547871.
  13. 1 2 Roberson, Loriann; Block, Caryn J. (2001-01-01). "6. Racioethnicity and job performance: A review and critique of theoretical perspectives on the causes of group differences". Research in Organizational Behavior. An Annual Series of Analytical Essays and Critical Reviews. 23: 247–325. doi:10.1016/S0191-3085(01)23007-X. ISSN   0191-3085.
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