Just Doing Business: Modern Racism and Obedience to Authority as Explanations for Employment Discrimination

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Organizational Behavior
• Industrial-Organizational Psychology

Background:

• Prejudice, specifically modern racism, can influence discriminatory hiring practices.
• Organizational superiors may use business justifications to legitimize discrimination against minority groups.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of modern racism and business justifications from authority figures on discriminatory hiring.
• To examine how the legitimacy of the authority figure influences obedience to discriminatory directives.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted involving participants in hiring scenarios.
• The study manipulated the presence and source (legitimate vs. illegitimate authority) of business justifications for discrimination.
• Modern racism levels and discriminatory hiring decisions were measured.

Main Results:

• Business justifications from legitimate authority figures led to increased discrimination compared to no justification.
• Discrimination was higher when justifications came from legitimate versus illegitimate authorities.
• Modern racism interacted with business justifications: it predicted discrimination only when a legitimate authority provided a justification.

Conclusions:

• Legitimate authority figures can elicit obedience in discriminatory hiring through business justifications.
• Modern racism exacerbates discrimination when sanctioned by authority, highlighting the intersection of prejudice and obedience.
• Findings offer insights into workplace discrimination and strategies for mitigation.