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Defend, Deny, Distance, and Dismantle: A New Measure of Advantaged Identity Management
Eric Shuman1,2, Martijn van Zomeren2, Tamar Saguy3
1The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|January 29, 2024
Summary
Advantaged group members manage their privilege through identity-management strategies like defending inequality or distancing. This study identifies new strategies and validates their measurement across diverse intergroup contexts.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Intergroup Relations
- Identity Management
Background:
- Privilege can cause psychological conflict for advantaged groups.
- Limited research exists on how advantaged individuals manage their privileged identities.
- Existing frameworks need refinement to capture diverse identity-management strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conceptualize and measure identity-management strategies used by advantaged group members.
- To refine theories of intergroup relations and identity.
- To validate a new measurement tool across different social contexts.
Main Methods:
- Developed and validated a measure of advantaged group identity-management strategies.
- Conducted six studies across three contexts: U.S. White-Black, Israeli Jewish-Arab/Palestinian, and U.S. gender relations.
- Utilized established frameworks in intergroup relations and identity theory.
Main Results:
- Introduced a new strategy: 'defend,' where advantaged groups justify inequality.
- Identified two facets of 'distancing': distancing from inequality and distancing from identity.
- Confirmed the proposed factor structure, measurement invariance, and construct validity of the strategies.
Conclusions:
- Advantaged groups employ specific strategies to navigate their privileged status.
- The study provides a validated tool for analyzing these strategies in various intergroup settings.
- Findings contribute to understanding how societal inequalities are maintained and perceived.
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