From Diversity Ideologies to the Expression of Stereotypes: Insights Into the Cognitive Regulation of Prejudice Within the Cultural-Ecological Context of French Laïcité

Abstract

This theoretical paper examines the context-sensitivity of the impact of cultural norms on prejudice regulation. Granting the importance of understanding intergroup dynamics in cultural-ecological contexts, we focus on the peculiarities of the French diversity approach. Indeed, the major cultural norm, the Laïcité (i.e., French secularism) is declined today in two main variants: The Historic Laïcité, a longstanding egalitarian norm coexisting with its amended form: The New Laïcité, an assimilationist norm. In fact, these co-encapsulated Laïcité variants constitute a fruitful ground to cast light on the processes underlying prejudice regulation. Indeed, it is documented that the assimilationist New Laïcité is linked to higher levels of prejudice as compared to the egalitarian Historic Laïcité. To this day, research mainly explored interindividual determinants of Laïcité endorsements and specified how these endorsements shape prejudice. Crucially, this “indirect-endorsement path” does not account for the more straightforward causal relationship between Laïcité and prejudice. Moreover, recent experimental evidence suggests that the normative salience of both Laïcité norms shape intergroup attitudes beyond personal endorsement. Therefore, in this contribution, we complement previous work by investigating the possible socio-cognitive processes driving this “direct-contextual path.” In doing so, we seek to bridge the gap of causality by investigating how the Laïcité norms can set the stage for specific regulatory strategies. Our reasoning derives from an application of the Justification-Suppression Model bolstered by classical work on mental control, modern racism and diversity ideology. From this, we sketch out the operative functioning of two distinct regulation processes: (a) one that prevents prejudicial attitudes but which can have unexpected consequences on stereotyping within the Historic Laïcité context (i.e., suppression) and (b) one that helps realize prejudice within the New Laïcité context (i.e., justification). From this analysis, we discuss the consequences for intergroup relations within and beyond the French context. In particular, we outline the importance of an adequate framing of egalitarian ideologies so that they achieve their goal to foster harmonious intergroup relations.

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“…First, in both studies, and replicating past results, SDO negatively predicts Historic Laïcité endorsement (Roebroeck & Guimond, 2017). Second, the findings of Study 2 match past studies showing that support for Historic Laïcité shapes positive diversity responses (for a review, see Lankester & Alexopoulos, 2021). Therefore, the pattern of findings in Study 2 is consistent with SDT theory: Historic Laïcité acts as a legitimizing myth insofar it mediates the SDOdiversity response relationship (Roebroeck & Guimond, 2017).…”

“…Indeed, this nation promotes a national identity which is blind to ethnocultural membership (Beaman & Petts, 2020). Further, two paradoxical cultural norms are used to regulate the displays of ethnocultural particularism: the Historic Laïcité, an egalitarian norm and the New Laïcité, an assimilationist one (Lankester & Alexopoulos, 2021;Roebroeck & Guimond, 2017). We reasoned that due to its shared content, French National Identification will negatively predict BLM support.…”

“…As discussed above, this differential endorsement of the two Laïcité predicts, in turn, contrasting diversity responses (Kamiejski et al, 2012b;Roebroeck & Guimond, 2017. However, to our knowledge, a dual-mediation test to establish their legitimizing myth's function is still needed (see Lankester & Alexopoulos, 2021). Thus, the inclusion of an additional path starting with SDO fills this gap.…”

“…The Historic Laïcité (i.e., its original form), is an egalitarian norm used to fend off discrimination rooted in ethno-religious particularities. The New Laïcité (i.e., its recent amended form) is an assimilationist norm fostering social uniformity in public settings (for a review, see Lankester & Alexopoulos, 2021). Interestingly, both Laïcité norms are associated with contrasting responses toward diversity issues that go well beyond the religious domain they were originally intended to address.…”

“…France appears as a highly relevant national context to test this rationale. Indeed, France rests on a national identity blind to group-based identities, which de facto opposes the BLM's narrative (Goldman, 2021;Kamiejski et al, 2012b).What's more, to address diversity issues, individuals can mobilize two distinct cultural norms of Laïcité (i.e., French secularism): The Historic Laïcité (i.e., a long-standing egalitarian norm), and the New Laïcité, (i.e., a recently amended version of the former oriented toward assimilation; Lankester & Alexopoulos, 2021;Roebroeck & Guimond, 2017). Based on these elements, we examine whether French National Identification reliably predicts BLM (dis-)approval.…”