Can gender inequality be created without inter-group discrimination?
Sylvie Huet1, Floriana Gargiulo2, Felicia Pratto3
1Université Clermont Auvergne, INRAE, UR LISC, Centre de Clermont-Ferrand, F-63178 Aubière, and LAPSCO, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Plos One
|August 12, 2020
Summary
A simple agent-based model demonstrates how gender hierarchies can emerge without prejudice. Differences in responsiveness to social status can create stable, consensual gender inequality, including glass ceiling effects.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Computational Social Science
- Sociology
Background:
- Gender hierarchies are a ubiquitous feature of human societies.
- Understanding the origins of gender inequality is crucial for social science.
- Existing models often rely on prejudice or stereotypes to explain inequality.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test if a simple agent-based dynamic process can generate gender inequality.
- To investigate the role of gendered social status concerns in creating inequality.
- To explore the emergence of stable, consensual inequality without explicit bias.
Main Methods:
- Agent-based modeling simulating social interactions and esteem judgments.
- Incorporation of gender differences in responsiveness to social rank and others' opinions.
- Random pairwise interactions to influence self and other-esteem judgments.
Main Results:
- The model successfully produced stable, consensual inter-group inequality in self-esteem and status.
- The simulation exhibited characteristics of glass ceiling effects.
- Outcomes were independent of relative group sizes, suggesting a robust mechanism.
Conclusions:
- A basic dynamic process, driven by status concerns, can create gender inequality.
- Gendered differences in social responsiveness can lead to emergent inequality without prejudice.
- Findings have implications for understanding group dominance and social exchange dynamics.
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