Benevolent, sugar-coated treatment of subordinates enlists them in their own oppression

Evidence

In particular, Jackman (1994) argues that benevolence toward subordinates in general (not only women) serves to reinforce the dominant group’s position of superiority and control. Whites in the American Old South once stereotyped Blacks as cheerful and loyal, but also as ignorant, submissive, and in need of protection. Most perniciously, these beliefs were internalized by Blacks, and resulted in their helping to maintain a system of own-group oppression. Similarly, stereotyping women as nice (but weak) and treating them in a benevolent (but patronizing) manner serves to maintain gender hegemony, in at least two ways. First, it undermines perceptions of female competence and authority, relegating women to low-status, nurturing roles. Second, it may lead women themselves to uphold the status quo. Certainly oppression is more palatable for subordinates when it is “sugar-coated,” compared with when it is overtly hostile (Jackman, ch. 6 this volume). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 768

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the moral-panic and immodesty-dress material: complacency and sugar-coating as mechanisms of control parallel how moral panics keep groups docile. — connects to: The dominated reenact past injustice upon themselves to make it bearable; Benevolent assimilation further humiliates the person it claims to equalize — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 117; Parents socialize children into oppressed roles out of genuine care — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 692 (+3 more)
• SEED: Essay angle: ‘Nice racism’ — how warm paternalism perpetuates hierarchy more durably than overt hostility, drawing the Old South parallel.