Mapping Ethnic Stereotypes and Their Antecedents in Russia: The Stereotype Content Model

Abstract

The stereotype content model (SCM), originating in the United States and generalized across nearly 50 countries, has yet to address ethnic relations in one of the world’s most influential nations. Russia and the United States are somewhat alike (large, powerful, immigrant-receiving), but differ in other ways relevant to intergroup images (culture, religions, ideology, and history). Russian ethnic stereotypes are understudied, but significant for theoretical breadth and practical politics. This research tested the SCM on ethnic stereotypes in a Russian sample ( N = 1115). Study 1 ( N = 438) produced an SCM map of the sixty most numerous domestic ethnic groups (both ethnic minorities and immigrants). Four clusters occupied the SCM warmth-by-competence space. Study 2 ( N = 677) compared approaches to ethnic stereotypes in terms of status and competition, cultural distance, perceived region, and four intergroup threats. Using the same Study 1 groups, the Russian SCM map showed correlated warmth and competence, with few ambivalent stereotypes. As the SCM predicts, status predicted competence, and competition negatively predicted warmth. Beyond the SCM, status and property threat both were robust antecedents for both competence and warmth for all groups. Besides competition, cultural distance also negatively predicted warmth for all groups. The role of the other antecedents, as expected, varied from group to group. To examine relative impact, a network analysis demonstrated that status, competition, and property threat centrally influence many other variables in the networks. The SCM, along with antecedents from other models, describes Russian ethnic-group images. This research contributes: (1) a comparison of established approaches to ethnic stereotypes (from acculturation and intergroup relations) showing the stability of the main SCM predictions; (2) network structures of the multivariate dependencies of the considered variables; (3) systematically cataloged images of ethnic groups in Russia for further comparisons, illuminating the Russian historical, societal, and interethnic context.

The Impact of Response Instruction and Target Group on the BIAS Map

“…Moreover, they have argued that the mean level differences in reported stereotypes between different responses instructions might not under all circumstances reflect the relative position of different target groups within the two-dimensional stereotype content space ( Kotzur et al, 2020 ). Even small differences in the mean level of reported stereotypes can be indicative of the distinctive social perceptions and behaviors toward members of different target groups, with some groups (including the Roma) being outliers within their particular SCM quadrant (see e.g., Grigoryev et al, 2019 ).…”

Is there “smoke without fire”? Applying the theory of values to the study of motivational aspects of ethnic stereotypes: The case of Jewish stereotypes in Russia

“…Moreover, surveys conducted in Russia have demonstrated that the power stereotypes of Jews are widespread in this country (Gibson & Duch, 1992;Gibson & Howard, 2007;Korey, 1972;Leach et al, 2008). In a recent study that investigated stereotypes of 60 different ethnic groups in Russia, Jews were among the five groups highest in the competence index (Grigoryev et al, 2019). Content of the power stereotype permits us to assume that it is related to the power values and to the motivation to establish control over other people and material and social resources in terms of Schwartz's value theory (Schwartz et al, 2012).…”

“…Second, some stereotypes formulated in terms of personality traits assume that the stereotyped group has a specific motivational goal. For instance, when a group is stereotyped as low on the warmth dimension, it is assumed that members of this group are motivated to harm members of the stereotyping group (Grigoryev et al, 2019;Yzerbyt, 2016). Some other stereotypes formulated as traits assume that members of the stereotyped group have especially high or low preference for specific values.…”

“…The article was prepared within the framework of the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University) and partly supported within the framework of a subsidy by the Russian Academic Excellence Project "5-100." ethnic stereotypes have focused on traits using either the Five-Factor Model of personality traits (Allik, Mõttus, & Realo, 2010;Realo et al, 2009) or the Stereotype Content Model (Bilewicz & Krzeminski, 2010;Grigoryev, Fiske, & Batkhina, 2019;Yzerbyt, 2016) and did not touch upon other important group characteristics, including values, beliefs, and behavioural norms (McGrath & Goldberg, 2006). In the present study, we aimed to partly close this gap by focusing on the motivational aspects of ethnic stereotypes; i.e., the general motivations of an ethnic group as perceived by the majority population.…”

Ethnic Cultural Interaction of the Population of the North Caucasus Territories

“…A detailed analysis of the barriers to integration created by ethnic cultural differences was carried out on the basis of studying the evolution of interethnic marriages in society, as one of the productive strategies of social integration [1]. Among the important conclusions of the researcher, consonant with the opinion of a number of scholars, a decrease in the cultural distance between the indigenous population and immigrants ensures the socio-economic well-being of the territory [2,3,4,5,6,7,8].…”