Solidarity through shared disadvantage: Highlighting shared experiences of discrimination improves relations between stigmatized groups

Clarissa I. Cortland*, Maureen A. Craig, Jenessa R. Shapiro, Jennifer A. Richeson, Rebecca Neel, Noah J. Goldstein

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

142 Scopus citations

Abstract

Intergroup relations research has largely focused on relations between members of dominant groups and members of disadvantaged groups. The small body of work examining intraminority intergroup relations, or relations between members of different disadvantaged groups, reveals that salient experiences of ingroup discrimination promote positive relations between groups that share a dimension of identity (e.g., 2 different racial minority groups) and negative relations between groups that do not share a dimension of identity (e.g., a racial minority group and a sexual minority group). In the present work, we propose that shared experiences of discrimination between groups that do not share an identity dimension can be used as a lever to facilitate positive intraminority intergroup relations. Five experiments examining relations among 4 different disadvantaged groups supported this hypothesis. Both blatant (Experiments 1 and 3) and subtle (Experiments 2, 3, and 4) connections to shared experiences of discrimination, or inducing a similarity-seeking mindset in the context of discrimination faced by one's ingroup (Experiment 5), increased support for policies benefiting the outgroup (Experiments 1, 2, and 4) and reduced intergroup bias (Experiments 3, 4, and 5). Taken together, these experiments provide converging evidence that highlighting shared experiences of discrimination can improve intergroup outcomes between stigmatized groups across dimensions of social identity. Implications of these findings for intraminority intergroup relations are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)547-567
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of personality and social psychology
Volume113
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2017

Keywords

  • Interminority relations
  • Intraminority intergroup relations
  • Perceived similarity
  • Prejudice/stereotyping
  • Stigma-based solidarity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Sociology and Political Science

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