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Although social sanctions have made it unacceptable to express many forms of prejudice, for some, class-based antipathy is still an accepted form of prejudice. The current work investigated prejudice against White people from a low socioeconomic (SES) background and tested the hypothesis that White peoples' often negative reactions to low SES ingroup members is the result of a perceived threat to the ingroup's status. Pilot data suggest that White people have distinctly negative attitudes toward low SES White people. In Study 1 a racial categorization task revealed that White people have difficulty classifying the race of low SES White targets. Study 2 suggests the White people link low SES ingroup members with threats to the ingroup's status. In Study 3, among White participants who strongly identified with their race, status threat enhanced a desire for interpersonal distance from an ostensibly low SES White (but not low SES Black) individual. This research demonstrates one pathway through which concerns with status increase class-based prejudice.
A Dissertation submitted to the Psychology Department in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references.
Advisory Committee
E. Ashby Plant, Professor Directing Dissertation; Albert Stiegman, University Representative; Jon K. Maner, Committee Member; Joyce Ehrlinger, Committee Member; Thomas Joiner, Committee Member.
Publisher
Florida State University
Identifier
FSU_migr_etd-2990
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