Prejudice against members of a ridiculed working‐class group

Abstract

In five experiments, we examined the stereotypes, emotions, and behavioural intentions associated with a Spanish working-class group, known as chonis. We described a student (Experiments 1-3) or job candidate (Experiments 4-5) and presented participants with a picture showing a woman characterized either as choni or posh (an upper-class group, Experiments 2-4) or with no picture (Experiments 1, 3-5). Depending on the condition, explicit information about her high social class (Experiment 1), performance (Experiment 3), or category (Experiment 5) was provided. Participants evaluated the candidate more negatively, felt less admiration, and were less willing to interact with her or to recommend her for a job when she was categorized as choni as compared to the other categories. These effects disappeared if the student/candidate had high socioeconomic status or performed excellently in the academic domain, but they were magnified for highly (vs. weakly) materialistic individuals. Class prejudice apparently has harmful effects on disadvantaged individuals, but can be mitigated by explicit information. Chav-hate is a way of justifying an unequal society. What if you have wealth and success because it has been handed to you on a plate? What if people are poorer than you because the odds are stacked against them? To accept this would trigger a crisis of self-confidence among the well-off few. And if you were to accept it, then surely you would have to accept that the government's duty is to do something about it-namely, by curtailing your own privileges. But, if you convince yourself that the less fortunate are smelly, thick, racist and rude by nature, then it is only right that they should remain at the bottom. Jones (2011, p. 137) Much psychosocial research gravitates around prejudice and discrimination. Surprisingly, class prejudice has received scant interest from social psychologists (Haslam & Loughnan, 2012; Hodgetts & Griffin, 2015) despite its undeniable impact in multiple areas. The current research aims to explore prejudiced responses to a specific workingclass group, as well as the conditions that can increase or weaken such reactions. To that end, we conducted five experiments in Spain considering a stigmatized working-class subgroup known as chonis. We analysed how presenting a picture of a female with a choni or upper-class appearance influences participants' perceptions regarding competence, morality and sociability, emotions, and behavioural intentions towards her. In addition to this subtle manipulation of social class, we also provided explicit information about her socioeconomic status and performance to check whether this might undermine

Positive contact with working-class people reduces personal contribution to inequality

“…Those participants who held materialistic values in the first wave reported less positive contact with the working class and greater contribution to inequality in the second wave. This finding is consistent with previous evidence that materialism is associated with class prejudice (Vázquez & Lois, 2020). In addition to the ideological factors considered in Study 1, different control variables could be explored in future studies, such as social dominance orientation or individualism.…”

“…Materialism is discordant with caring about social justice and equality (Kasser, 2018), and intensifies class prejudice. Strongly materialistic individuals evaluate working-class targets more negatively and are less likely to select them for a job than weakly materialistic individuals (Vázquez & Lois, 2020). Thus, materialism might entail a greater tolerance of inequality.…”

The psychology of diversity and its implications for workplace (in)equality: Looking back at the last decade and forward to the next

“…More than half (12) of the 22 empirical papers include more than one study, most being experimental in research design (e.g., Vázquez & Lois, 2020). The most common sampling strategies utilized were via university students and/or their personal networks (eight papers, representing 36%) as well as via researchers’ own networks and snowballing efforts (six papers, representing 27%).…”

“…In another vignette study related to hiring decisions, Vázquez and Lois (2020) invoke stereotypes about social class and show that when a student's physical appearance matched cliches about ‘chonis’, the Spanish equivalent to British ‘chavs’, participants rated the student lower on competence, morality, and adequacy as a team member or as being professional. Participants were less willing to interact with the student or recommend them for a job, compared to when they were characterized as belonging to a high social class or were uncategorized.…”

“…In addition, if the out‐group is perceived as being intolerant itself, ‘tolerant’ individuals paradoxically respond with intolerance to defend the norm of tolerance they perceive to be threatened because they want to restore faith in their own cultural worldview. Finally, Vázquez and Lois (2020) show how prejudicial responses towards a minority person can be inhibited when there is explicit information about the target's excellent (academic) performance or high social class, reinforcing the importance of individuating information in dispelling stereotypes but also demonstrating how individuals subject to stigma may be held to a higher performance standard than members of the majority group.…”