Creating and Transferring Status Beliefs

广泛共享的地位信念是组织地位不平等的关键，无论是在社会中的社会群体之间，如职业、种族或性别之间，还是在个人之间。地位信念是一种文化信念，它将社会价值和一般能力与属于公认的社会差异类别的人（例如，专业人士、白人、男性）联系在一起，而不是属于另一种社会差异类别的人（劳动者、有色人种、女性）。广泛持有的地位信念不仅标志着社会中不同群体在文化上的尊重和荣誉，而且还塑造了个人之间发展起来的地位等级。地位信念是如何形成的？尽管可能有很多方式，地位建构理论提出了一套足以创造、传播、维持或潜在地破坏关于广泛认可的社会差异的地位信念的过程。该项目旨在通过测试地位建构理论的核心论点，增加我们对社会差异的地位信念是如何在社会中产生和传播的认识。该理论认为，来自不同社会类别的人之间的日常接触是关于社会差异的地位信念发展和传播的重要背景。在这样的遭遇中，参与者有可能将他们在遭遇中的影响力和尊重与他们的社会差异联系起来，无论其真正来源是什么，并形成关于这种差异的地位信念。一旦人们形成了这样的信念，他们就会带着（即转移）这些信念去与其他类别的人进行后续接触。通过根据新的地位信念来对待他人，人们将这些信念传授给至少一些其他人，创造了一个传播过程，将这些信念传播到人群中。在该理论规定的结构条件下，这可能会导致人们对社会差异产生广泛共享的地位信念。之前的研究表明，人们确实会在与社会不同的人的相遇中形成地位信念，如果他们将这些信念转移到随后的相遇中，他们就会像该理论所认为的那样，将这些信念传播给其他人。如果要在人群中出现广泛持有的地位观念，他们必须这样做吗？我们将进行两个阶段的实验来研究这个问题。在第一阶段，通过复制先前研究中产生这种效果的过程，将诱导付费的大学生志愿者形成对社会差异的地位信念。在一两天后的第二阶段，这些受试者将与来自另一个社会群体的新伙伴合作。该理论认为，受试者对新伴侣的顺从和影响行为将表明他们是否将自己的地位信念转移到了新的相遇中。除了解决一个重大的社会问题外，这项研究还将产生几个更广泛的影响。它将促进教育和培训，让一名研究生和多达12名本科生担任实验人员、合作者、调度人员和编码人员。与以前的相关项目一样，预计这些学生中有3名或更多是种族或少数民族，其中约一半是妇女。所有人都将接受第一手研究培训。研究结果将在社会学期刊和学术报告中广泛传播。

SES-0417404Cecilia L. RidgewayStanford UniversityWidely shared status beliefs are the key to the organization of status inequality, whether it be between social groups in society, such as occupations, races, or the sexes, or between individuals. Status beliefs are cultural beliefs that associate greater social worthiness and general competence with people who belong to one category of a recognized social difference (e.g., professional, whites, men) than those who belong to another category of that difference (laborers, people of color, women). Not only do widely held status beliefs signal the respect and honor culturally attached to different groups in society, they also shape the status hierarchies that develop among individuals. How do status beliefs develop? Although there may be many ways, status construction theory proposes one set of processes that are sufficient to create, spread, maintain, or potentially undermine status beliefs about a widely recognized social difference. This project seeks to increase our knowledge of how status beliefs about social differences are created and spread in society by testing a central argument of status construction theory. The theory argues that everyday encounters between people from different social categories are important contexts for the development and spread of status beliefs about social differences. In such encounters, there is a chance that participants will associate their influence and esteem in the encounter, whatever its true source, with their social difference and form status beliefs about the difference. Once people form such beliefs, they carry (i.e., transfer) them to their subsequent encounters with those from the other category. By treating others according to the new status beliefs, people teach these beliefs to at least some others, creating a diffusion process that spreads the beliefs through the population. Under structural conditions specified by the theory, this can lead to widely shared status beliefs about the social difference Previous research has shown that people do form status beliefs from encounters with socially different others and that if they transfer these beliefs to subsequent encounters, they can spread them to others as the theory argues But do people spontaneously transfer new status beliefs from one encounter to another, as they must if widely held status beliefs are to emerge in the population? A two-phase experiment will conducted to study this question. In the first phase, paid undergraduate volunteers will be induced to form status beliefs about a social difference by replicating procedures from previous studies that had that effect. In the second phase a day or two later, these subjects will work with a new partner from the other social group. Subjects' deference and influence behavior toward the new partner will indicate whether they have transferred their status beliefs to the new encounter, as the theory argues.The research will has several broader impacts in addition to addressing a significant social issue. It will promote education and training by involving a graduate student and up to a dozen undergraduates as experimenters, confederates, schedulers, and coders. As in previous related projects, 3 or more of these students are expected to be racial or ethnic minorities and about half will be women. All will receive first hand research training. Results of the research will be disseminated broadly in sociological journals and scholarly presentations.