Equality for all? White Americans’ willingness to address inequality with Asian and African Americans.

Abstract

White Americans' willingness to engage in dialogues about intergroup commonalities and power inequalities with Asian and African Americans were examined in two experiments. Because Whites perceive that African Americans experience greater discrimination than do Asian Americans, we predicted that they would be more willing to engage in dialogues that would interrogate injustice and inequality with them. We also explored the role of common in-group identity (as Americans) on willingness for dialogue about inequality. In both studies, Whites were less interested in engaging in power talk with Asian Americans than with African Americans, but the difference in willingness for commonality talk was smaller. Asian Americans were perceived as experiencing lower levels of discrimination (Studies 1 and 2) and identify less with America (Study 2) both of which predicted lower willingness for power talk with them. Common in-group identity manipulations had marginal effects on willingness for power talk with African Americans and no effect on power talk with Asian Americans. Implications for improving social disparities between various groups were discussed.

The face of STEM: Racial phenotypic stereotypicality predicts STEM persistence by—and ability attributions about—students of color.

“…We also theorize that Black targets (specifically, Black male targets) may activate prejudice concerns more than Asian American targets of either gender. We make this argument based on the public image of Asian Americans as a “model minority”—that is, an ethnic minority group that has achieved economic and educational success (Kitano & Sue, 1973), seemingly experiences minimal discrimination (Bikmen & Durkin, 2014; Pew Research Center, 2010), and has little need for sympathy, concern, or supportive public policies (Chao, Chiu, & Lee, 2010; Lin, Kwan, Cheung, & Fiske, 2005; Weathers & Truxillo, 2008). Moreover, the content of stereotypes about Asian Americans is positive, as well as negative (Lin et al, 2005), and research suggests that people are less cautious about the expression of positive than negative stereotypes (Kay, Day, Zanna, & Nussbaum, 2013).…”

Rethinking intergroup contact across cultures: Predicting outgroup evaluations using different types of contact, group status, and perceived sociopolitical contexts

“…Notably, we also found that outgroup evaluations made by both majority and minority groups in the two cultural contexts remained high across group status and regardless of direct contact. This finding is possible considering the generally positive attitudes toward higher status groups across various settings (Asbrock, 2010; Cuddy et al, 2009) as well as the current positive views toward Chinese Americans in the U.S. (Bikmen & Durkin, 2014; Maddux et al, 2008) and the post-Reform improvement of attitudes of the Chinese community in Indonesia (Chong, 2015; Setijadi, 2016; Turner & Allen, 2007). Again, this finding suggests potential influence of the dynamic sociopolitical situations on the intergroup relations between two very specific groups in each society (see Liu, 2012).…”

“…This finding is inconsistent with previous studies in other contexts, which suggests that the direct contact effect tends to be stronger for the majority than the minority group members (Binder et al, 2009; Tropp & Pettigrew, 2005). The finding, however, shows that perhaps the model minority stereotype of the Asian Americans in the country influences the way the majority group members evaluate this particular minority ethnic group (Bikmen & Durkin, 2014; Maddux et al, 2008), which indicates that intergroup relations could be influenced by the specific relationship between two particular ethnic groups in a cultural context (Conley et al, 2016; Liang et al, 2004).…”

“…They are seen as part of the model minority (Maddux, Galinsky, Cuddy, & Polifroni, 2008). Even though the Asian American stereotype carries some negative traits that are associated with ambivalent attitudes targeting this group (Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2007; Lin, Kwan, Cheung, & Fiske, 2005), the positive traits in relation to the model minority seemed to grant this group more respect and perhaps more equivalent social status from majority and fellow minority groups in the society (Bikmen, 2011; Bikmen & Durkin, 2014).…”

An integrative framework on the impact of allies: How identity‐based needs influence intergroup solidarity and social movements

“…During interactions with disadvantaged group members, advantaged group members prefer discussing issues that highlight intergroup commonalities, such as shared hobbies or cultural similarities (Saguy, Dovidio, & Pratto, 2008). This preference is linked to advantaged group members' desire to uphold the status quo and draw attention away from inequalities (Saguy et al, 2008; see also Bikmen & Durkin, 2014;Hammack & Pilecki, 2015). However, as advantaged group members' intentions to challenge the status quo increase, their desire for discussing status differences increases as well (Saguy et al, 2008).…”