Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Introduction: social comparison processes and levels of analysis
- Part 1 Cognition: comparison processes within and between individuals
- Part 2 Intergroup relations: comparison processes within and between groups
- 5 Predicting comparison choices in intergroup settings: a new look
- 6 The variable impact of upward and downward social comparisons on self-esteem: when the level of analysis matters
- 7 Attitudes toward redistributive social policies: the effects of social comparisons and policy experience
- 8 Social comparison and group-based emotions
- 9 The counter-intuitive effect of relative gratification on intergroup attitudes: ecological validity, moderators and mediators
- 10 Social comparison and the personal group discrimination discrepancy
- Part 3 Culture: comparison processes within and across cultures
- Author index
- Subject index
- References
7 - Attitudes toward redistributive social policies: the effects of social comparisons and policy experience
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Introduction: social comparison processes and levels of analysis
- Part 1 Cognition: comparison processes within and between individuals
- Part 2 Intergroup relations: comparison processes within and between groups
- 5 Predicting comparison choices in intergroup settings: a new look
- 6 The variable impact of upward and downward social comparisons on self-esteem: when the level of analysis matters
- 7 Attitudes toward redistributive social policies: the effects of social comparisons and policy experience
- 8 Social comparison and group-based emotions
- 9 The counter-intuitive effect of relative gratification on intergroup attitudes: ecological validity, moderators and mediators
- 10 Social comparison and the personal group discrimination discrepancy
- Part 3 Culture: comparison processes within and across cultures
- Author index
- Subject index
- References
Summary
An extensive body of research has examined the factors that shape attitudes toward employment-based redistributive policies such as affirmative action and comparable worth. Empirical work has focused particularly on individualistic predictors of opposition toward these policies, including prejudice or justice beliefs (Bobocel, Son Hing, Davies, Stanley, and Zanna, 1998; Sears, Henry, and Kosterman, 2000). Although some research has considered whether policy support varies as a function of the type of affirmative action program – preferential treatment versus equal opportunity (Bobocel et al., 1998) – little research has assessed how features of employment settings themselves might affect attitudes toward redistributive policies and ideological beliefs. Aspects of the work setting are likely to shape people's beliefs about inequality and group-based policies by cueing different self-categorizations and comparison standards that people draw on when they evaluate their employment outcomes (Tajfel and Turner, 1986; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, and Wetherell, 1987). In this chapter, we argue that the presence or absence of gender-based redistributive policies in employment settings convey different identity and comparison information, which then affects people's responses to gender differences in employment outcomes and whether they support or oppose policies that alter these outcomes. We expect that women and men who have conscious experience with redistributive policies will respond differently to these policies and related ideological beliefs than will those who do not have this experience.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Social Comparison and Social PsychologyUnderstanding Cognition, Intergroup Relations, and Culture, pp. 151 - 173Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
References
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