The effects of social class and gender cues on white perceivers\u27 racial stereotypes

This study examined the content of white respondents\u27 racial stereotypes and the influence of class and gender information on this content. Each respondent was exposed to one target group that was defined solely by race (black vs. white), or by race (black vs. white), gender (men vs. women), and social class (lower vs. middle). Modifications of the free-response and checklist methodologies were employed to assess racial stereotypes: (a) respondents volunteered traits they believed were characteristic of their target group and indicated what percentage of their target group were characterized by each of those traits, and (b) respondents indicated what percentage of their target group were characterized by each trait from a large list of traits. In addition, respondents evaluated on a 7-point good-bad scale each of the traits that they volunteered or were given on the list. This rating made it possible to develop a composite measure that indicated the overall evaluation (favorable vs. unfavorable) of target groups. Contrary to expectations, target groups defined solely as black or white were evaluated equally and mildly favorably. However, as expected, findings pertaining to the traits ascribed to the target groups provided moderate support for the view that perceivers\u27 assumptions about social class mediate the content of racial stereotypes. Relevant to testing this view were class-related measures of these aspects of stereotypes of blacks and whites that were defined by purely demographic information about socioeconomic status (e.g., poor, wealthy) or by traits or behaviors associated with socioeconomic status (e.g., violent, ambitious). For all the class-related measures that significantly differentiated blacks and whites, race effects either became non-significant or considerably weaker when class information was available. Nevertheless, irrespective of class, blacks were perceived as significantly more violent, criminal, and obnoxious than their white counterparts. These perceptions may have serious repercussions for blacks in business, legal, and educational domains