Constructing a social psychological model of prejudice towards minorities : social identity, relative deprivation and widespread beliefs

Abstract

A social psychological model of prejudice was developed based on Relative Deprivation and Social Identity Theory. This model emphasised social identification and comparison processes and was designed to predict prejudice towards refugee groups which had recently arrived in Ireland. To broaden the level of analysis the role of social representations was also considered. A questionnaire was designed which measured social distance to foreign and indigenous minority groups, strength of identification with key identity labels, agreement with widespread beliefs about minorities, demographic characteristics and perception of level, fairness and stability of own, in-group and out-group income. Using this questionnaire a postal survey of the general population of Dublin was conducted (N = 419, Response rate = 53.4%). Education was the most important demographic predictor of social distance. Strength of social identification also predicted prejudice. Contrary to many relative deprivation accounts, although unfavourable comparisons between the in-group and out-group did predict prejudice, egoistic comparisons between own income and minority out-group income were slightly more powerful predictors. More surprisingly, by far the best predictor of social distance was a perception of the out-group as earning income they do not deserve. In multiple regression it was found that this variable was superior to any comparison based measure.