Gender and social class inequalities in higher education: intersectional reflections on a workshop experience

Research about the experiences of underrepresented groups in higher education (HE) demonstrates the persistence of challenges, despite policies and institutional strategies to promote inclusion. Diversity and inclusion policies have been part of the HE agenda for several decades, yet most policies and interventions focus on (a) a given, isolated identity experience (e.g., based solely on gender, social class, or ethnicity) rather than more intersectional approaches to identity; and (b) top-down interventions that do not include participants insights in their design. In this paper, we report a case study of a workshop with students at an elite university that drew on an intersectional approach to social identities (IASI), specifically, looking at gender and social class. We explore three key themes: (a) the importance of group processes, (b) the use of visual techniques, and (c) the institutional tensions and the (de)politicisation of social psychology research. Reflecting on this case study we argue that approaches to identity and inclusion in HE can benefit from intersectionality beyond the use of multi and overlapping identity and social group categories. We argue that research in this space is not neutral and needs to acknowledge researchers' position about (a) inclusion and diversity, (b) perceptions of participants in research, and (c) the motivation and aims of institutions where the research is conducted. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of integrating an intersectional approach within social identity research in HE when focusing on underrepresented groups.

Pathways for diversifying and enhancing science advocacy

Science is under attack and scientists are becoming more involved in efforts to defend it. The rise in science advocacy raises important questions regarding how science mobilization can both defend science and promote its use for the public good while also including the communities that benefit from science. This article begins with a discussion of the relevance of science advocacy. It then reviews research pointing to how scientists can sustain, diversify, and increase the political impact of their mobilization. Scientists, we argue, can build and maintain politically impactful coalitions by engaging with and addressing social group differences and diversity instead of suppressing them. The article concludes with a reflection on how the study of science-related mobilization would benefit from further research.

Twin pandemics, intertwined (intergroup) solutions: Support for mitigating racism benefits vaccine hesitancy

The present research examines the potential that support for efforts aimed at mitigating systemic racism might have beneficial consequences related to vaccination attitudes (e.g., vaccine willingness). Specifically, the present research examines the hypothesis that Black Lives Matter (BLM) support is related to reduced vaccine hesitancy, and that prosocial intergroup attitudes are a theoretical mechanism. It tests these predictions across social group lines. Study 1 examined state-level indicators tied to BLM protests and discourse (i.e., Google searches, news reports) and COVID-19 vaccine attitudes among US adult racial/ethnic minority (N = 81,868) and White (N = 223,353) respondents. Then, Study 2 investigated, respondent-level, BLM support (measured at time 1) and general vaccine attitudes (measured at time 2) among US adult racial/ethnic minority (N = 1,756) and White (N = 4,994) respondents. It tested a theoretical process model that included prosocial intergroup attitudes as a mediator. Study 3 tested a replication of the theoretical mediation model using a different sample of US adult racial/ethnic minority (N = 2,931) and White (N = 6,904) respondents. Across studies and social groups (i.e., racial/ethnic minority and White respondents), as well as controlling for demographic and structural covariates, BLM support and state-level indicators were found to be related to lower vaccine hesitancy. And, Studies 2-3 provided some evidence that prosocial intergroup attitudes are a theoretical mechanism; the studies provided evidence of partial mediation. Holistically, the findings have the potential to advance understandings of how support and discourse related to BLM and/or other anti-racism efforts can be associated with positive public health outcomes such as reductions in vaccine hesitancy.

Dating Violence in an Urban Turkish Context: Listening to Young People from an Intersectional Perspective

Intersectional approaches have challenged the field of domestic violence to pay more attention to diversity in women's experiences and highlighted the significance of their social contexts and positions, such as class, race, religion, in shaping their understanding of and responses to violence. In the dating violence (DV) literature, a similar call has been made to develop contextualized accounts of DV and to address the heterogeneity of young people through DV prevention programs. Nevertheless, to date, intersectional thinking has not been fully utilized in DV research. The present study aims to address this gap in the literature and investigate how young people make sense of and experience DV from an intersectional perspective in an urban Turkish context. The data for the current study came from individual interviews conducted with 39 college students, aged 18-25. The interviews inquired into how young people understood, explained, and experienced DV. The interviews were analyzed thematically, culminating into four main themes: (a) DV as control, (b) DV as resulting from traditional gender norms, (c) DV as women's fault, and (d) DV-related socialization processes. Some of these main themes were interpreted and experienced differently by the participants depending on their gender and the impact of traditional, Islamic, and egalitarian discourses on their accounts. The result demonstrated nuanced differences in young people's meaning-making perspectives, needs, and vulnerabilities to DV. In the Turkish context, these results are intended to inform the burgeoning field of DV research and to guide the development of diversity-informed, culturally tailored, and context-sensitive prevention practices.

Managing Intersectional Invisibility and Hypervisibility during the Transition to College Among First-Generation Women of Color

In the current study, we examined the transition to college for first-generation women of color. Previous studies of first-year college experiences among groups with minoritized statuses have primarily focused on first-generation students or students of color separately, with little consideration of women within these groups generally, and first-generation women of color specifically. Drawing from work in Black feminist scholarship, we explored the transition to college from the perspective of first-generation women of color college students, examining the resources, strengths, and challenges experienced during this transition. Fourteen self-identified first-generation women of color students participated in semi-structured interviews. Respondents were asked a series of open-ended questions about their first-year college experiences, including family dynamics, social support, and mental health. Using thematic analysis, we identified five major themes—Identity, Imposter Phenomenon, Mixed Formal Support, Complicated Family Support, and Friendship, Social, and Emotional Support. Our findings suggest that first-generation women of color college students encounter unique challenges that warrant further investigation. Furthermore, we recommend structural programming (e.g., diversity initiatives), university policies (e.g., need-blind admissions), and increased faculty and staff diversity as strategies that will benefit all students and provide support for first-generation women of color college students.

Spotlighting Black Adolescent Development in the Shadow of Racism: A Commentary

The special issue brings together scholarship that expands our understanding of the adverse effects of interpersonal, online, and vicarious racial discrimination on Black adolescents' psychosocial well-being and sociocultural factors (e.g., racial socialization and positive racial identity) that mitigate these effects. It also focuses attention on ways that adolescents' behavior and characteristics shape racial socialization. Some of the critical tasks that lie ahead include elevating a developmental perspective, documenting developmental pathways, directly assessing proximal mediating processes, giving more attention to the robustness and replicability of findings, and expanding levels of analyses and outcomes to include both macro-structural indicators and indicators of physiological and neuropsychological functioning.

The Development of Critical Consciousness in Adolescents of Color Attending “Opposing” Schooling Models

Critical consciousness refers to the ability to analyze and take action against oppressive social forces shaping society. This longitudinal, mixed methods study compared the critical consciousness development of adolescents of color (n = 453) attending two sets of high schools featuring schooling models that represent “opposing” approaches to education. The participating adolescents were 13-15 years old at the start of the study; the majority identified as African American or Latinx; and nearly 80% came from low-SES households. They attended public charter high schools located in five different northeastern cities. Analyses of longitudinal survey data revealed that the adolescents attending these two sets of high schools demonstrated greater rates of growth on different dimensions of critical consciousness over their four years of high school. Qualitative interviews with youth attending these two sets of schools(n = 70) offered evidence of the long-theorized relationship between critical consciousness and problem-posing education, but also that effective practices supporting youth critical consciousness can be found embedded in schools featuring a broader range of pedagogies. These findings offer support for ethnic studies and action civics programming that several state departments of education have recently added to secondary school curricula.

Acting for whom, against what? Group membership and multiple paths to engagement in social change

In a connected and politically engaged world, it is essential to understand how, why, and when people from diverse backgrounds may support social action. Integrating findings from the collective action, solidarity, and allyship literatures, we present working models of how the lenses through which individuals possessing different group memberships may psychologically identify (as part of the targeted group, an inclusive stigmatized identity, or the societally dominant group) and perceive injustice (as exclusively affecting the targeted group, inclusively affecting the target group and one's ingroup, or perceiving ingroup privileges) may shape social change efforts. We highlight disparate effects of positive (and negative) contact between groups on the mobilization of socially dominant and stigmatized groups that may provide challenges to diverse coalitions seeking social change.

Intergroup Inequality Heightens Reports of Discrimination Along Alternative Identity Dimensions

How do members of societally valued (dominant) groups respond when considering inequality? Prior research suggests that salient inequality may be viewed as a threat to dominant-group members' self and collective moral character. However, people possess multiple social identities and may be advantaged in one domain (e.g., White) while concurrently disadvantaged in another domain (e.g., sexual minority). The present research tests whether individuals may reduce the moral-image threat of being societally advantaged in one domain by highlighting discrimination they face in other domains. Four experiments with individuals advantaged along different dimensions of inequality (race, social class, sexuality) reveal that making such inequality salient evokes greater perceived discrimination faced by oneself and one's ingroups along other identity dimensions.

Are White Women Showing Up for Racial Justice? Intergroup Contact, Closeness to People Targeted by Prejudice, and Collective Action

Although scholars have suggested that relationships with people of color can enhance White people’s commitment to racial justice, many women of color have questioned whether White people, and White women in particular, actually “show up” to protest for racial justice. Focusing on the contact experiences and closeness White women have with people from racial and ethnic groups different from their own, we tested how these relationships may predict their reported motivations to engage in protests for racial justice. With a broad online sample of White American women (Study 1), and White women who attended the 2017 Women’s March (Study 2), our results showed that both positive contact and closeness to people targeted by prejudice predicted White women’s willingness to participate in protests for racial justice (Studies 1 and 2). Only closeness to people targeted by prejudice significantly predicted actual participation in collective action for racial justice (Studies 1 and 2) and also predicted motivation for racial justice among those who attended the 2017 Women’s March (Study 2). Findings suggest that White women’s inclinations to protest for racial justice may be linked to the close relationships they have with people targeted by prejudice, while more general forms of positive contact may not be related to such action. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ ’s website at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/0361684319840269 . Online slides for instructors who want to use this article for teaching are available on PWQ' s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/page/pwq/suppl/index

Interrogating the Intersections: How Intersectional Perspectives Can Inform Developmental Scholarship on Critical Consciousness

Developmental psychologists widely recognize that the social structures and inequities of American society influence youth development. A burgeoning body of research also considers how youth marginalized by society critically evaluate societal inequities and take action to change them (critical consciousness, Freire [Education for critical consciousness (Vol. 1). Bloomsbury Publishing.]), suggesting that marginalized youth who are more critically conscious experience improved mental health and better educational and occupational outcomes and are more engaged in traditional forms of civic behavior. The current manuscript critically reviews and extends this area of research from an intersectional perspective. Drawing from core writings in intersectionality and more recent psychological applications, we contend that research on marginalized youth's critical consciousness could be further strengthened by (1) focusing on marginalizing systems, rather than marginalized individuals; (2) conceptualizing and examining multiple systems of oppression; and (3) paying greater attention to sociohistorical knowledge. We conclude with some initial concrete recommendations for integrating principles of intersectionality into scholarship on youths' critical consciousness development.

Group differences in the legitimization of inequality: Questioning the role of social dominance orientation

Social dominance orientation (SDO) is conceived as an individual's level of support for group-based hierarchy in general that causes support for more specific group hierarchies. According to social dominance theory, group differences in SDO underpin ideological and behavioural group differences related to specific group hierarchies. Using representative 5-year longitudinal panel data from New Zealand (N = 3,384), we test whether SDO mediates effects of sex and ethnicity on legitimizing myths (LMs) relating to gender and ethnic hierarchy over time. The SDO mediation hypothesis is supported in the case of hostile sexism. However, it is unsupported in the case of benevolent sexism and LMs relating to ethnic hierarchy, where there was no cross-lagged effect of SDO. Moreover, being in the dominant ethnic group is associated with more legitimization of ethnic hierarchy but less legitimization of gender hierarchy, which is inconsistent with the notion of a general orientation underpinning group differences in legitimation. There was mixed evidence for a reverse path whereby specific LMs mediate group differences in SDO across time. We argue for the need to find alternative ways to theorize ideological consensus and difference between groups.

The differential impact of discrimination on health among Black and White women

Despite a large body of research examining the impact of discrimination on health, the ways in which perceived discrimination may lead to disparate health outcomes through a sense of self and system consciousness is less understood. The current paper is concerned with both mental and physical health consequences of discrimination, as well as mediating pathways among African American and White women. Indirect effects analyses examine mediating paths from discrimination to health outcomes via structural awareness and self-esteem, using data from the Women's Life Path Study (N = 237). Our findings suggest that discrimination is both directly and indirectly associated with health outcomes for both Black and White women, mediated by individual (self-esteem) and group-level (structural awareness) processes. Evidence from this study indicates that discrimination is associated with heightened structural awareness, as well as lower self-esteem - both of which are related to poorer health. Discrimination negatively affected health across three domains, although the mechanisms varied somewhat for Black and White women. Broad implications of this research for interdisciplinary scholarship on the effects of discrimination on health and health disparities are discussed.