Abstract
The Indian caste system is a complex social structure wherein social roles like one’s profession became ‘hereditary,’ resulting in restricted social mobility and fixed status hierarchies. Furthermore, we argue that the inherent property of caste heightens group identification with one’s caste. Highly identified group members would protect the identity of the group in situations when group norms are violated. In this paper, we were interested in examining the consequence of caste norm violation and how an individual’s status is mentally represented. High caste norms are associated with moral values while the lower caste norms are associated with immorality. We predicted a ‘black sheep effect,’ that is, when high caste individuals’ group identity (caste norm violation condition) is threatened their salient high caste identity would increase, thereby resulting in devaluing the status of their fellow in-group member if the latter is perceived as perpetrator. We presented participants with a social conflict situation of a victim and a perpetrator that is ‘Caste norm consistent’ (Lower caste individual as a perpetrator and higher caste individual as a victim) and vice versa ‘Caste norm inconsistent’ condition (higher caste individual as perpetrator and lower caste individual as a victim). Then, participants had to choose from nine pictorial depictions representing the protagonists in the story on a vertical line, with varying degrees of status distance. Results showed evidence for the black sheep effect and, furthermore, revealed that no other identity (religious, national, and regional) resulted in devaluing the status of fellow in-group member. These results help us understand the ‘black sheep’ effect in the context of moral norms and status representation and are discussed in the framework of the Indian society.
Highlights
People in general belong to many social categories that could either be achieved, such as one’s profession, or inherited, such as one’s gender
We predicted a caste norm inconsistent condition would lead to incongruent status representations, as mediated by high-caste identity, but that this effect might be seen only amongst high caste individuals
The results showed that caste norm condition negatively predicted high-caste identity (b = −0.68, t = −2.81, p = 0.006, 95% CI [−1.17, −0.20]) and high-caste identity negatively predicted status distance (b = −0.35, t = −2.98, p = 0.004, 95% CI [−0.58, −0.12])
Summary
People in general belong to many social categories that could either be achieved, such as one’s profession, or inherited, such as one’s gender. One of the main objectives of the present research was to examine how status is cognitively represented in the Indian society as a consequence of the way caste is perceived. Caste membership is ingrained in the society and there is considerable reason to claim that caste as a type of social identity would probably be one of the most salient identities in the Indian context. This aspect is addressed by Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1986), to which we turn
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