Perceived discrimination, categorization threat, and Dominican Americans’ attitudes toward African Americans.

Abstract

This study examined whether members of one racial or ethnic minority group (i.e., Dominican Americans) express fewer positive attitudes toward members of a different racial or ethnic minority group (i.e., African Americans)-with which they do not identify-when they perceive that their group faces discrimination on a basis that categorizes them together with that other group (i.e., race). Method: Ninety-nine Dominican-American undergraduate students (M age ϭ 20.23, SD ϭ 1.64; 53% women, 18% first generation) were randomly assigned to read a brief article stating that discrimination against Dominicans was based either on language or immigrant status (n ϭ 48) or race (n ϭ 51). Afterward they reported their attitudes toward and similarity to African Americans. Results: Dominican-American undergraduates who perceived that they were dissimilar to African Americans expressed fewer positive attitudes toward the group when told that Dominicans face discrimination because of race as opposed to because of their language and immigrant status. Conclusions: The study suggests that perceived discrimination from White Americans can induce categorization threat and influence intraminority relations. Members of 1 racial or ethnic minority group can express fewer positive attitudes toward members of another group with which they do not feel similar when they perceive that members of both groups face discrimination based on a shared category.

Hierarchies of being human: Intergroup dehumanization and its implication in present-day South Africa.

“…Research on intraminority intergroup relations has informed our understanding of how perceived societal discrimination and (lack of) similarity may influence the relations between disadvantaged groups (Craig & Richeson, 2012; Wiley, 2019). Whereas the collective experience of discrimination may facilitate solidarity between such groups, perceived discrimination might also register as a threat to one’s own-group esteem due to ties with the common minority group.…”