Content area
Abstract
Considerable research in psychology has examined prejudice and stereotyping, with particular attention to racism, sexism, and the role of cognition. Little of this literature focuses on classism, and only recently have researchers begun to investigate how intergroup emotions enable prejudice. This dissertation investigates how emotions maintain classism, addressing these gaps in the literature.
Study 1 used national telephone survey data to explore whether the use of genetic and moral explanations for poverty varied for four class/race groups (working-class Whites, middle-class Whites, working-class Blacks, middle-class Blacks). Middle-class Whites held the most negative views of the poor, working-class Blacks held the least, and working-class Whites and middle-class Blacks fell in between. SEM analyses showed disgust (a moralizing emotion) felt toward the poor was associated with viewing the class system as legitimate only among middle-class Whites. Black participants (regardless of class) who rejected genetic explanations also rejected the legitimacy of the class system and did not moralize poverty. Results are discussed in terms of the groups' relationship to privilege and the historical significance of genetic and moral explanations for poverty for each of the groups.
Study 2 explored parallels between classism and ambivalent sexism, which includes both subjectively positive responses that are reserved for those who conform to social expectations and hostile responses toward those who challenge the status quo. Using a 2x2 experimental design, participants viewed a female beneficiary of a charity that aided either the poor or the sick, and who expressed anger or shame at her plight. Results confirmed that when the poor woman broke a classed emotional script by expressing anger, participants responded with anger, disgust and less willingness to donate money to the non-profit organization she represented. When she expressed shame, as socially expected, participants were willing to donate to her organization and felt pity for and pride in themselves. Findings suggest emotions are socially interactive phenomena maintained through power-based emotional scripts.
These studies begin to illustrate how emotions perpetuate class inequality at both ideological and interpersonal levels. Policy implications are discussed.
