Psychologists, Race, and Housing in Postwar America

Abstract

Housing in postwar America became a critical focal point for issues of race and social equality. Housing and race relations became a real‐world laboratory for psychologists and other social scientists, including several of the leaders of Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, to examine developing theories of intergroup relations, especially as potential means to reduce prejudice. Further, it is argued that psychologists sought to impact emerging housing policy and to ameliorate an enduring social problem. The author concludes that the efforts by social scientists to provide workable solutions, typically from an unacknowledged place of White privilege, proved largely ineffective.

The Interplay of Social Status and Trust: A Critical Review of Concepts, Operationalizations, and Findings

“…Such samples differ compared with developing countries, for example, with regard to demographics (Arnett, 2008), fairness (Nowak et al, 2000), or risk aversion (Henrich & McElreath, 2002), which is why it not self-evident that studies based on such samples show globally applicable validity. However, it is not only the selection of samples that imposes limitations but also the fact that the researchers themselves are mostly from WEIRD countries, which may limit the interpretive structures that can be applied to the results (see, for example, Harris, 1998; O’Connor, 2001; Pickren, 2011).…”