Stereotype content is predictable from material and social structural position

Evidence

The system-justification view assumes that specific contents of stereotypes may be predicted on the basis of objective, material factors such as status or position in society. Tajfel (1978, 1981a) was fond of quoting Robert LeVine, who made the following challenge: “Describe to me the economic intergroup situation, and I shall predict the content of the stereotypes.” Our own position is not one of economic reductionism, because it is necessary to understand inequalities due to gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and other noneconomic grounds. At the same time, however, we do conceive of stereotypes as arising from objective, material factors including divisions of labor and social practice rather than, for example, as ideas prior to or independent of material forces in society (see MacKinnon, 1989; Marx & Engels, 1846). — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2943

Categorization

• XREF: Materialist account of ideology connects to Marx’s base/superstructure model and to my reading on reputation institutions as responses to material conditions. — connects to: Frontline work structure, not worker prejudice, creates receptivity to stereotypes — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 844; Stereotype content reflects shared cultural views rather than individual contact. — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 41; Perceived social status predicts competence stereotypes while competition predicts perceived coldness — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 140 (+1 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2943