Examining double standards in layoff preferences and expectations for gender, age, and ethnicity when violating the social norm of vaccination

Whether vaccination refusal is perceived as a social norm violation that affects layoff decisions has not been tested. Also unknown is whether ascribed low-status groups are subject to double standards when they violate norms, experiencing stronger sanctions in layoff preferences and expectations, and whether work performance attenuates such sanctioning. Therefore, we study layoff preferences and expectations using a discrete choice experiment within a large representative online survey in Germany (N = 12,136). Respondents chose between two employee profiles, each with information about ascribed characteristics signaling different status groups (gender, age, and ethnicity), work performance (work quality and quantity, and social skills), and whether the employees refused to vaccinate against COVID-19. We found that employees who refused vaccination were more likely to be preferred and expected to be laid off. Respondents also expected double standards regarding layoffs due to vaccination refusal, hence, harsher treatment of females and older employees. Nonetheless, their preferences did not reflect such double standards. We found little support that high work performance attenuates these sanctions and double standards, opening questions about the conditions under which social biases arise. Our results suggest detrimental consequences of vaccination refusal for individuals, the labor market, and acceptance of health policies.

Gender-based in-group social influence can lead women to view a hostile sexist attitude as less prejudiced and more true

Social influence processes by which women come to judge a hostile sexist attitude as relatively true and unprejudiced were examined. Based upon status characteristics theory, women's judgments were expected to be more strongly influenced by a man's than a woman's interpretation of the sexist attitude as true or prejudiced. Based upon self-categorization theory, women's judgments were expected to be more strongly influenced by a woman's than a man's interpretation. Support was primarily observed for the self-categorization theory prediction. This effect, however, was initially suppressed by participants' acceptance of the legitimacy of gender status differences. A post-hoc mediational analysis revealed two pathways by which in-group social influence affected women's acceptance the relative veracity of negative claims about their own group: a direct path from shared in-group membership with the influencing agent, and an indirect path through their acceptance of the legitimacy of gender status differences. The research highlights how women's endorsement of sexist views can have the capacity to minimize other women's challenges of these views as prejudice.

Theory toolbox for historical explanation: An essay in analytic sociology

Merton proposed middle range theories, not as ends in themselves, but as bases for a consolidation to explain broader phenomenon. More than a half century has passed since Merton’s consolidation proposal and in that time a number of experimentally tested middle range theories have been developed. Certainly, the next step should be a consolidation. Yet, to our knowledge, no one has previously offered a consolidation of experimentally tested theories and applied it for explanation. This paper offers a consolidation of middle range theories formulated to explain the rise of the pristine state. Two theories of this consolidation, Status Characteristics Theory and Elementary Theory, form the core of what Analytic Sociologists have called a toolbox of theories. Our toolbox forms an integrated consolidation in two ways. First, the social structures modeled by the theories form a path-dependent process of increasing benefits gained by the elites of the structures. Second, the end conditions of each step of the process are the initial conditions of the next. Whereas the theories in our toolbox have previously been seen as applying exclusively to microstructures, we have encountered no difficulties in scaling them up to apply to macrostructures. While we hope the consolidation has validity in explaining the occurrence of pristine states, this paper’s significance lies in its demonstration that today social theories can be consolidated and applied for explanation.

Effect of workplace status on employees’ creativity from the perspective of expectation identity: a moderated chain double mediation model

Purpose

Drawing upon the creativity interaction theory and expectation-identity perspective, the purpose of this paper is to construct a chain mediation model of the influence of workplace status on individual creativity from the perspective of expectation identity and to explore the moderating effect of prosocial motivation in this model.

Design/methodology/approach

This study reached 529 employees from 35 enterprises as the investigation objects and used structural equation model and hierarchical regression for data analysis. Data on workplace status, prosocial motivation, creativity expectations and creativity role identity were collected at Time Point T1, and individual creativity was collected at time point T2 (one month later).

Findings

The results reveal that: workplace status has a significantly positive effect on creativity; creativity performance expectations and creativity role identity have partial mediating effect in the relationship between workplace status and creativity, respectively; creativity performance expectations and creativity role identity play a chain double mediation role in the relationship between workplace status and creativity; and prosocial motivation moderates the relationship between workplace status and creativity and further moderates the chain double mediation effect of creativity performance expectations and creativity role identity.

Originality/value

In existing studies, conclusions about the relationship between workplace status and individual creativity could be divided into three viewpoints: positive, negative and U-shaped. These inconsistent findings on the relationship between workplace status and creativity imply that the relationship is complex and not fully elucidated. This may be attributed to the fact that workplace status is influenced by cultural factors and research objects. This study reinterprets the relationship between workplace status and individual creativity through the lens of creativity interaction theory and demonstrates the significance of employee workplace status in the Chinese context.

Definitions and the Development of Theory in Social Psychology

Formal definitions specify what is necessary and sufficient for the identification of a particular term. These formal definitions use precise language and do not admit contradictions; they are exact class. There are multiple advantages of exact class definitions. They enable us to confidently use deductive arguments so we can ensure that the terms in the premises match the terms in the conclusion. They prevent sloppiness and circularity of logic. They also help us look beyond common sense or what we think we already know. I illustrate these advantages and also the problems that can occur when definitions are not exact class.

Nonverbal Vocal Adaptation and Audience Perceptions of Dominance and Prestige

Fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis of speech is a useful tool for measuring the social organization of micro interactions. Past research suggests that “adaptation” in the lower nonverbal vocal frequencies may be associated with bystander perceptions of dominance and prestige, but these factors have not been compared in a single study. Furthermore, it is unclear whether nonverbal vocal adaptation has an independent effect on bystander perceptions of dominance or prestige in naturalistic settings. To explore these questions, we aired manipulated versions of interviews from Piers Morgan Live to panels of undergraduates who then rated the dominance and prestige of the host and his guest. We find that nonverbal vocal adaptation is uniquely associated with dominance perceptions. We also find that nonverbal vocal adaptation does not have an effect on dominance perceptions that is independent of other cues. A step-by-step guide to help others use FFT voice analysis is provided.

Status Characteristics and Ability Attributions in Hungarian School Classes

We study how the status characteristics gender and ethnicity affect the abilities that adolescents attribute to each other in the Hungarian school context. For this, we derive predictions from status characteristics theory that we test by applying exponential random graph models to data collected among students in 27 school classes. By that, we contribute to the few existing studies of status characteristics in a school context, and we propose a novel approach to handle structural dependencies between individual ability attributions. Our results suggest that across classes, gender does not consistently affect ability attributions, while ethnicity does affect ability attributions. Roma students are on average perceived as less able than their Hungarian peers, even after controlling for the structural embeddedness of these perceptions.

Choosing between two semi-finalists: On academic performance gap, sex category, and decision question

We use an application-files experimental design to investigate a new topic in the assessment of candidates for junior-engineering jobs. Our focus is on two semi-finalists, a man and a woman, who show clearly different but still good levels of academic record. We keep the gap between those levels constant, but vary the sex category of the better performer. We also include control conditions in which the two have similar records. Each assessor's task was to choose either one applicant or neither, and to rate both in competence and suitability. The control-group competence ratings indicate no gender bias by either men or women; the experimental-conditions competence data are consistent with the candidates' records as predicted, but also show women minimizing the record of the better-performing male candidate. Choice and suitability, on the other hand, reveal a preference for the female applicant across respondents and conditions, as anticipated given the more open nature of those two questions, while still reflecting the academic records. Findings and their interpretation are presented in detail.