Is All Prejudice Created Equal? Emotions, Power, and Position in the Russian Federation

Date

2021-03-04

Authors

Butkovich Kraus, Nicole M.

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Abstract

This article argues for conceptualizing prejudice in terms of emotional-types rather than a monolithic feeling of ‘antipathy’ as in paradigmatic work on the subject (Allport 1954). I propose two distinct emotional-types of prejudice: fear-prejudice and hostility-prejudice. I demonstrate how relative group and subgroup positions may predict each type of prejudice. I support this distinction empirically using survey data from approximately 10,000 individuals in the Russian Federation collected in 2003-2004. Results indicate that non-significant predictors of a monolithic conception of prejudice are in fact quite important for predicting different emotional types of prejudice. Within the dominant ethnic Russian group, relative sub-group positions affect the emotional-type of prejudice expressed toward outgroups. I find that individuals within the dominant ethnic group (non-Muslim, ethnic Russians) who possess arguably less social power (women, youth, and those with very low income) are more likely to express fear-prejudice; those with broader anti-racist socialization (the elderly and those with higher levels of education) are more likely to express tolerance, and those with greatest social power (men and those with high incomes) are more likely to express hostility-prejudice.

Description

Topic: This project analyzes sources of prejudiced attitudes toward minority groups in Russia. The innovation here is that I demonstrate that by disaggregating prejudice by emotional types (rather than by level of intensity, for example, the way social distancing scales might), we see that there are really two very different types of prejudice that are better defined as hostility or fear. | History: American Sociological Association, Regular Session presentation, 2013 American Sociological Association, Regular Session presentation, 2018 | Data Collection Methodology: I use statistical methods to analyze a sample of approximately N=10,000 individual from the Russian Federation. The data was collected as a representative sample in 2003-2004. | Expected Findings: Depending on relative group position, I find differing emotional types of prejudice expressed toward non-Russians. I am attaching the paper here, and the findings are in the Results section in more detail.

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