SBP: Theories of Social Status and Inequality

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This project investigates how personal attributes with status value can cease to have status value attached to them. It is well known that certain personal attributes not intrinsically tried to competence can have status value attached to them so that they are associated with how well people are expected to perform. This project investigates the removal of status value from attributes, or "status deconstruction," by testing theoretically derived propositions through experiments. Findings will point to interventions to disassociate expectations for competence from categorical distinctions, which in turn is likely to contribute to equity in task-focused groups and improve the groups' performance. The theory is tested via two laboratory experiments. These begin by using established procedures for associating competency expectations with categorical distinctions. Then, multiple theoretically relevant conditions are implemented to remove the association between the categorical distinction and competency expectations. Data consist of both behavioral data, which are measures of the degree to which participants accept influence from others with different attributes, and questionnaire data, which assess attitudes toward others with different attributes. Results from this experiment will evaluate theoretical predictions about the conditions leading to status deconstruction.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.