Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Kunstman, Jonathan William
URN	etd-07182011-120717
Title	White ≠ Poor: Status Threats Enhances Intragroup Bias
Degree	Doctor of Philosophy
Department	Psychology, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title E. Ashby Plant Committee Chair Jon K. Maner Committee Member Joyce Ehrlinger Committee Member Thomas Joiner Committee Member Albert Stiegman University Representative
Keywords	Prejudice Stereotyping
Date of Defense	2011-05-18
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract Although social sanctions have made it unacceptable to express many forms of prejudice, for some, class-based antipathy is still an accepted form of prejudice. The current work investigated prejudice against White people from a low socioeconomic (SES) background and tested the hypothesis that White peoples’ often negative reactions to low SES ingroup members is the result of a perceived threat to the ingroup’s status. Pilot data suggest that White people have distinctly negative attitudes toward low SES White people. In Study 1 a racial categorization task revealed that White people have difficulty classifying the race of low SES White targets. Study 2 suggests the White people link low SES ingroup members with threats to the ingroup’s status. In Study 3, among White participants who strongly identified with their race, status threat enhanced a desire for interpersonal distance from an ostensibly low SES White (but not low SES Black) individual. This research demonstrates one pathway through which concerns with status increase class-based prejudice.
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