Men at the Intersection of Race and Class: Identity, Centrality, and Privilege Attitudes

While previous research has determined that people who have subordinated identities in one domain are more likely to view their dominant identity in another domain as a privilege (Rosette & Tost, 2013), the effect of class identity on privilege awareness at the intersection of race, class, and gender, has not been investigated. Additionally, the centrality of these identities has not been considered as a possible moderator, despite the fact that identity centrality has been shown to moderate the relationship between stereotype appraisals and disidentification with an ethnic or racial identity such that people whose racial or ethnic identities were more central were more likely to disidentify with their identities on days that they were affected by stereotypes related to their identity (Yip, 2016). Using a quasi-experimental, two-study design and survey about race, class, gender, identity centrality, and male privilege attitudes, I found no main effect of race or class on male privilege awareness but main effects of and interactions between race, class, and their centralities on perceived cost of addressing privilege and privilege attitudes, more broadly. There was a main effect of gender centrality as well as a significant interaction between racial centrality and class identification and three-way interactions between race, class, and class centrality. Future research should continue to explore the relationship between identity, centrality, and privilege awareness beyond cis men