Social Status as a Predictor of Race and Gender Stereotypes in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence

We examined race and gender stereotypes in fourth‐, sixth‐ and eighth‐grade White and Black children. The participants reported their perceptions of the competence of Black, White, female and male children in academic domains, sports and music. In general, low‐status groups (girls and Black children) did not endorse stereotypes that reflected negatively on their own group but were likely to report stereotypes that favored their social group. High‐status groups (boys and Whites) endorsed most traditional stereotypes, whether negative or positive, for their social group. Where age differences appeared, older children were more likely than younger children to report traditional stereotypes and status effects were more pronounced. The results are discussed in terms of group enhancement and relationships between social stereotypes and self‐views.     

The gender and race-ethnicity of faculty in top social science research departments

This paper provides a recent profile of the gender and race-ethnicity of faculty in top research departments of economics, political science, and sociology. Most faculty are male, although there appear to be critical masses of women in political science and sociology. Blacks and Hispanics are underrepresented among faculty relative to their shares of the population. Within each racial-ethnic group examined, there are more male than female faculty members, with a smaller gender gap for Blacks than for other racial-ethnic groups. In general, the higher the rank, the greater the proportion of males than females, especially for Whites and Asians.     

Gender Issues in Social Group Work

This introductory essay outlines some of the reasons why a knowledge of gender is important for social group workers. We identify key concepts that are often confounded in our understanding of gender and discuss gender stereotypes and status differences between men and women and their implications for group work; we further discuss how disordered behaviors and social problems are related to these gender role stereotypes and status differences. Finally, we assert that many of the theories underlying social work practice reflect gender stereotypes, and that group work research and theory have largely ignored gender as a variable.     

The Beneficial Effects of Social Identity Protection on the Performance Motivation of Members of Devalued Groups

For members of socially devalued or stigmatized groups, work and educational settings can threaten social identity, inducing the use of coping strategies that lower their motivation (e.g., self-segregation, domain disengagement) rather than improving their position in the social hierarchy. We review a recent research program on women and ethnic minorities to show that members of these stigmatized groups can maintain their motivation in threatening work and educational contexts when they are offered ways to protect their social identity. For example, organizations that communicate value for the social identities of women and ethnic minorities allow members of these groups to focus on success and motivate them to improve their performance on dimensions that increase their social status. Furthermore, social identity protection has important benefits over more individualistic forms of identity protection because it maintains group members' concern for their group's plight, increasing opportunities for successful collective action. The practical implications of this work are discussed.     

Compensating Wage Differentials for Fatal and Nonfatal Injury Risk by Gender and Race

Our research examines risk compensation by gender and race using occupation, gender, and race specific fatal and nonfatal injury rates and a data set sufficiently large to produce accurate estimates across fairly narrow groups. The data provide strong evidence that men earn compensating differentials for both fatal and nonfatal injury risk and women earn compensating differentials for nonfatal injury risk. Female wage premiums for nonfatal injury risk exceed male wage premiums by a factor of more than three. Nonfatal injury risk compensation is widespread among the various demographic groups although largest for white women. Fatal injury risk compensation is more isolated with only white and Hispanic males earning significantly higher pay for greater amounts of fatal injury risk.     

Interpersonal Perspectives on Black–White Health Disparities: Social Policy Implications

There are large and persistent disparities between the health status of Blacks and Whites in the United States. On average, the mental and physical health of Blacks is much poorer than Whites. In this article, we discuss several potential direct causes of Black–White disparities in health status, which include biological or genetic factors, prejudice and related processes, and socioeconomic factors. We also consider how the system-level, patient-level, and provider-level components of healthcare contribute to disparities in health status. We examine in detail the psychological processes associated with patient- and provider-level factors that may produce healthcare disparities. Of particular interest is the potential impact of racial attitudes and stereotypes on provider–patient interactions. Finally, we propose possible directions for future research on health disparities and discuss policy changes that might reduce disparities in health status and healthcare between social groups.     

Transcending the Effects of Sex Composition in Small Groups

A review of recent literature (1976 to 1982) on the topic of sex composition of small groups summarizes three theoretical explanations for male-female differences in same and mixed sex groups (including sex role differentiation; status characteristics/expectation states theory; and Kanter's structural/numerical proportions model); and five categories of empirical findings (including non-verbal effects; verbal interaction frequency and content; negative assessments of influential females; negative consequences of "token" or "solo" status for females; and contradictions in findings regarding all-female groups). Interventions for transcending group sex composition effects are identified for both women and men in mixed and same sex groups. Conclusions call for additional research, utilizing methods with high internal and external validity, on the effects of sex composition in treatment and "real-world" work groups.     

The consequences of adolescent parenthood on men's depression,parental satisfaction,and fertility in adulthood

This study examines some social and emotional consequences of fathering a child during adolescence in the US. Data are obtained from the 1987/88 US National Survey of Families and Households among 13,017 individuals aged 19 years and older and under age 19 if currently married. This study's sample included only men who reported fathering a child before their 30th birthday and were aged 18-40 years at the time of the interview. There were 227 men who fathered a child before the age of 20 years (Fathered as Teen--FAT) and 1032 men who fathered a child between their 20th and 30th birthday (Fathered as Adult--FAA). Outcome measures include depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale (CES-D) and parental satisfaction. Control variables are race, age, number of children, and socioeconomic status. Fertility is a control and a dependent variable. The FAT group had a smaller percentage of marriages, a greater percentage of never married, and a greater percentage of second and third marriages. 32% of the FAT group and only 17% of the FAA group were Blacks. 57% of the FAT group and 72% of the FAA were Whites. The evidence from multiple regression analysis using ordinary least squares techniques supports the hypothesis that adolescent fathers, like adolescent mothers, experience similar long-term outcomes of greater depression and fertility compared to men who become parents "on-time" during their 20s. Limitations to the study are the lack of control for the degree of contact with first-born children, educational status, and standardized measures with group norms. The authors furthermore caution that the study sample may not be representative of men who fathered as adolescents and does not consider mediating factors such as social supports during adulthood. However, the finding that adolescent men and women are more subject to depression regardless of socioeconomic status, race, fertility, or age warrants appropriate intervention strategies.     

A Race, Class, and Gender Analysis of Thriving

Thriving research has been dominated by a psychological perspective. Individuals are typically the unit of analysis and thriving is generally operationalized using psychological measures. This article discusses a race, class, and gender perspective that derives from feminist sociology, as well as its implications for thriving research. This perspective, which focuses on the role of race, class, and gender inequality in organizing social relations, draws attention to the need to recognize that both the likelihood that someone will face a challenge and their ability to thrive in the face of that challenge are determined largely by their location in the social hierarchy. It also demonstrates that distinctions must be made between thriving in the face of the routine challenges of daily life and thriving in the face of challenges that are an extraordinary part of life. Finally, the race, class, and gender perspective has implications for the development of interventions to promote thriving. Each of these issues is elaborated further with illustrations drawn from life history and focus group interviews with and field work conducted among drug-addicted women.     

A Comparison of Majority-race Children With and Without a Minority-race Friend

Majority‐race (black or white) ¹ elementary school children with and without a minority friend (black or white) in their classroom were compared on measures of social, behavioral, and affective characteristics. Analyses focused on 260 4th through 6th grade students who were racial majorities in their classrooms and had at least one reciprocated friendship in the classroom‐based peer group. Overall, the results were consistent with the scenario that majority children with minority friends are high status, prosocial, and socially satisfied members of the peer group, compared to majority children without a cross‐race friendship, although race and gender differences were observed. In contrast, class‐level characteristics (e.g. class size, the proportion of participating children in each classroom of the majority race, and the number of minority‐race children in the classroom) were not predictive of whether a majority child had a cross‐race friendship or not. Implications for the current status of black– white relations among our youth were discussed.     

Gender, Status, and Leadership

More than a trait of individuals, gender is an institutionalized system of social practices. The gender system is deeply entwined with social hierarchy and leadership because gender stereotypes contain status beliefs that associate greater status worthiness and competence with men than women. This review uses expectation states theory to describe how gender status beliefs create a network of constraining expectations and interpersonal reactions that is a major cause of the "glass ceiling." In mixed-sex or gender-relevant contexts, gender status beliefs shape men's and women's assertiveness, the attention and evaluation their performances receive, ability attributed to them on the basis of performance, the influence they achieve, and the likelihood that they emerge as leaders. Gender status beliefs also create legitimacy reactions that penalize assertive women leaders for violating the expected status order and reduce their ability to gain complaince with directives.     

Gender Issues Related to Group Social Skills Training

Social skills training helps group members to develop ways to behave competently in specific interpersonal situations. This paper identifies gender related issues in such training and describes a non-sexist response to them. Some of the issues dealt with are the status considerations women face in assuming many roles, the gender biases in tools used to assess social skills, and the way gender affects cognitive and emotional variables related to such skills. Another issue discussed is that in discriminatory situations women, in particular, should be helped to change such situations or to resist their detrimental effects. Workers must be helped to recognize and change their own biases in these respects.     

The Public Perception of Female and Male Violence in Marital Relationships

Most studies dealing with intimate partner violence (IPV) investigate situations where the man is the aggressor. The present study examines the participants’ social perception of IPV and the connection between social perception and the severity of the violent act and its justification when carried out by men against women and vice versa. The research is based on a structured, self-reported anonymous questionnaire answered by 240 participants. The questionnaire examined demographic variables, attitudes toward IPV, the severity of the violent act, and its justification. Findings indicate that violent behavior of women is perceived as more justified than that of men and that men’s violent behavior is perceived as more severe by women than by men, but women’s violent behavior is perceived to be equally severe by men and women. The study raises awareness of the lack of gender boundaries in violence and of gender discrimination against males.     

Why Do the Privileged Resort to Oppression? A Look at Some Intragroup Factors

This article shows that (intergroup) oppression can be strategically motivated by (intragroup) processes. It is often assumed that high-status groups oppress when their social position is declining (relative deprivation). Counterintuitively, research shows that oppression also occurs when their position is improving (gratification): a curvilinear relationship referred to as "the v-curve effect." We test the hypothesis that this relationship is due to intragroup processes within the high-status group: individuals respond strategically to elite norms. Two experiments manipulated participants' future prospects: to join the nation's elite in future (relative gratification), social stasis, or status decline (relative deprivation, Study 2). Elite norms toward immigrants (positive, negative) were manipulated independently. The curvilinear relationship was only found when norms were negative. In other words, those who anticipate joining the elite tailor their actions to the norms of their prospective in-group.     

The Interaction of Race and Gender: Changing Gender‐Role Attitudes, 1974–2006*

Objective. The purpose of this article is to assess over‐time trends in the interactive effects of gender and race on attitudes toward the changing roles of women in U.S. society. Methods. This article uses data from the 1974–2006 General Social Survey. Gender‐role attitudes are measured using two composite indices of traditionalism. Results. We find black females tend to hold less traditional gender‐role attitudes than their black male, white male, and white female counterparts. Black and white males tend to hold similar attitudes toward women entering politics, but differ significantly in their attitudes toward women working outside the home and its impact on children. Assessing over‐time trends, we find the difference between black females and the other social groups to be generally diminishing. This convergence is more pronounced for white and black females. The difference in attitudes toward women entering politics between black females and white males, on the other hand, appears to be maintaining over time. Conclusions. These findings support the idea that the labor force participation for women may have provided the groundwork for the evolution of attitudes for men and women. As white women in particular increase participation in the workforce, ideologies regarding the place of women in U.S. society have shifted.     

Understanding Multiple Group Identities: Inserting Women into Cultural Transformations

The study of cultural transformations in the United States has been studied predominantly from an assimilation/acculturation framework. There are several drawbacks to this theoretical perspective, chief among them being the exclusion of gender in examining what happens to different ethnic/racial groups when they come into contact. Feminist writings in the last twenty years provide a rich discussion of how inserting women into this social process would enrich our knowledge about human behavior in general and cultural change specifically. This paper reviews the literature on the assimilation/acculturation framework and integrates the most recent developments in feminist theory to provide a new alternative to studying cultural transformations. The social engagement model takes into account gender as well as other significant social identities like ethnicity/race, class, and sexuality to study how groups change as they come into contact with each other.     

Updating the Bogardus social distance studies: a new national survey

The last quarter of the 20th century witnessed a number of events and social transformations that have had great implications for religious and ethnic relations around the world. This study seeks to gauge the changes in sentiment towards various U.S. ethnic and religious groups by updating and replicating the Bogardus social distance scale. The Bogardus study, which was designed to measure the level of acceptance that Americans feel towards members of the most common ethnic groups in the United States, was conducted five times between 1920 and 1977 with very few changes in research design. Consistent with prior replications, the authors of this study collected a random sample of 2,916 college students and administered the social distance scale in the form of a questionnaire. The findings indicate that the mean level of social distance towards all ethnic groups, as well as the spread between the groups with the highest and lowest levels of social distance, decreased since 1977. Mean comparisons and ANOVA test also showed that gender, nation of origin, and race are all significant indicators of the level of social distance towards all groups.     

女领导的临界规模与组织性别歧视现象——基于第三期中国妇女社会地位调查数据的实证研究

本研究利用第三期中国妇女社会地位调查数据,从配额制的有效性问题出发,探讨组织领导团队中的女性比例与性别歧视现象之间的关系,对临界规模理论的假设,即团队里某一社会特征的人数达到一定比例将给该社会类别的境遇带来具有显著意义的改变进行了检验。研究发现,组织领导团队中的女性比例达到30%能够有效减少性别歧视现象,这种作用在政治、经济和研究领域以及体制内外组织中均存在,但有程度上的差异。此发现不仅从实证角度检验了临界规模理论,而且为在政策设计中增加领导团队中的女性比例提供了支持。     

家庭背景与教育：婚姻中地位交换的性别与时期差异

本文利用2018年“中国家庭追踪调查”（CFPS）数据,使用对数线性模型,分析了1978～2018年家庭背景与自身教育在择偶过程中地位交换的性别与时期差异。研究发现,在跨越出身阶层与自身教育地位的异质婚中,夫妻一方会利用自身的相对教育地位优势交换另一方的相对出身阶层优势,这支持了地位交换论。1978～1991年结婚的夫妻中,女性更多通过相对教育优势交换男性的相对出身优势。随着时间的推移,出身阶层与教育在择偶过程中的地位交换强度不断增强,但更多体现在男性通过自身相对教育优势交换女性相对出身优势的婚配模式上,而女性的这一婚配模式呈先降后升趋势。可见,随着时代变迁,家庭背景在女性的向上婚姻流动中扮演着越来越重要的角色。     

Recognition and gendered identity constructions in labour activation

Few studies have considered how labour activation programmes affect participants’ identity construction, particularly from a gender comparison perspective. Using qualitative data and recognition theories, this exploratory study of the Norwegian Qualification Program examined how gender may affect labour activation recipients’ identity construction and sense of social value. The findings suggest that women experience labour activation as an enabling process, facilitating an enhanced sense of social value and status. In contrast, men experience either no such change or a diminution of their sense of worth and status. The study shows how cultural values regarding gender, work and employment are embedded in social work practice and activation policy implementation. Underscoring how activation may be intertwined in such cultural values and norms, the study calls for further research to understand these processes, as they may affect outcomes in labour activation policy.