Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Modern prejudice theorists argue that the manifestation of prejudicial attitudes towards people of color (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1986; Kinder & Sears, 1981; Meertens & Pettigrew, 1997; Pettigrew & Meertens, 1995; Sears & McConahay, 1973), women (Glick & Fiske, 1996; Swim, Aiken, Hall, & Hunter, 1995; Tougas, Brown, Beaton, & Joly, 1995), and lesbians and gay men (Morrison & Morrison, 2002; Walls, forthcoming; Walls & Rodriguez, 2002) has shifted to more covert and subtle expressions as expressing overtly prejudicial attitudes has become increasingly stigmatized (McHugh & Frieze 1997; Tougas et al. 1995). The concept of modern prejudice includes various subdomains including benevolent sexism, paternalistic heterosexism, and symbolic racism. However, few conceptualizations of modern prejudice have included the endorsement of positive stereotypes as a specific subdomain.This paper examines the endorsement of positive stereotypes as a potential subdomain of modern prejudice.

Methods

A web-based survey was completed by 651 undergraduates in introductory social science courses at six different U.S. colleges and universities in the South, Midwest, and East. In addition to sociodemographic questions, data were gathered on sexism, heterosexism, public policy preferences, and numerous measures shown to have a relationship with prejudicial attitudes. Using OLS, models were examined predicting public policy support for women's rights and lesbian/gay rights.

Results

Using two relationships – that between attitudes toward women and support for women's rights, and that between attitudes toward lesbians/gay men and support for lesbian/gay rights – the findings from this study suggest that positive stereotypes play an intriguing role in maintaining inequality. For hostilely prejudiced individuals – those we would historically refer to as sexist or homophobic individuals – the endorsement of positive stereotypes is unrelated to support for equal rights. However, for those who would have historically been labeled as non-sexist or non-homophobic, greater endorsement of positive stereotypes is related to decreased support for equal rights.

Implications

Efforts that focus solely on unlearning negative myths and stereotypes about traditionally disenfranchised populations are only part of the solution to decreasing prejudicial attitudes and attenuating social inequality. Structural disadvantage is also maintained by attitudes that have not historically been considered a form of prejudice. These attitudes appear to be most detrimental among individuals who see themselves as non-prejudiced. These findings also suggest that information on the role of non-negatively valenced prejudicial attitudes may have in fostering inequality needs to be incorporated into social work education to better prepare future social workers for culturally competent practice.