Colour-Blind Attitudes among Welfare Professionals: Examining the Relationship Between Colour-Blind Attitudes, Anti-immigration Attitudes and Social Desirability

Abstract

Colour blindness is a concept that is established in the US context, and it has gained increased attention among European scholars. Yet we find less studies in the European context that measure colour-blind attitudes and show its prevalence among different groups. Therefore, this paper examines the prevalence of colour-blind attitudes among Swedish welfare professionals' and how these attitudes are associated with anti-immigration attitudes but also social desirability. To this end, survey data is examined with a regression analysis. Welfare professionals who report greater levels of colour-blind attitudes are simultaneously more likely to report greater levels of anti-immigration attitudes. This paper thereby tests how colourblind attitudes, a concept from the US context, can be applied to a Swedish welfare institutional context and finds convergent results.

“We choose this CV because we choose diversity” – What do eye movements say about the choices recruiters make?

“…This means that respondents were influenced by the wish to come across as non-discriminatory, as diversity and inclusion are organizational norms their organizations strive toward. Previous research from the Swedish context also shows that social desirability among workers in organizations is related with increased levels of color-blindness, where color-blindness can be understood as a way to appear unbiased ( Penner and Dovidio, 2016 ; Schütze, 2023 ). Color-blindness and social desirability co-occur when respondents want to preserve a positive self-image and fit into the current social and organizational norms ( Knowles et al, 2009 ).…”