Individual and institutional discrimination: Theoretical and methodological contributions of social psychology

Abstract

In France, as in many other countries, research has established the existence of origin-based discrimination. Where does this racial or ethnic discrimination come from, and why does it seem to last despite efforts to eradicate it? This article outlines the main findings on the issue in social psychology, whose contribution is still largely ignored in France. First, I describe the intergroup approach by discussing three major theories of intergroup relations developed in social psychology: realistic conflict theory, social identity theory, and social dominance theory. These theories have spurred much research, mostly about stereotyping and prejudice, but more rarely about discriminatory behavior. The reason for this neglect is that it is difficult to measure discriminatory behavior in a laboratory. In the second section, I present an experimental procedure inspired by social dominance theory, which aimed precisely at measuring discrimination. The first results obtained with this method are promising. The objective, in this case, was to measure individual discriminatory behaviors. However, discrimination and racism are not limited to individual attitudes or behaviors. In the third and final section on institutional discrimination, I show how social dominance theory and research developed in the United States to measure unintended racist bias provide an original and novel approach for understanding the contemporary manifestations of institutional discrimination. The findings of a series of studies conducted in France using different methods appear to be theoretically consistent with those obtained in the United States.