Social Identity and Implicit Theories about Sex Discrimination at Work

Abstract

Four hundred and eighty university students of both sexes and already employed were asked to state their agreement on a 5-point scale with a series of items. In these items five different implicit theories about the discrimination of women at work were operationalized: progressive, biological, liberal, traditional and women as innovators. Three sub-scales of the SOPOL scale of social and political attitudes, already validated in Portugal, were included in the questionnaire. The results showed an internal validity in all implicit theories except the progressive one. Furthermore, the sex of the subjects and their political positions presented significant differences on the agreement with those implicit theories. The intergroup relations theory of social identity and implicit theory such as social representation were used as theoretical frames to interpret the results.