Research project Social scientists have contributed significantly to our understanding of the origins and nature of prejudice, but we still know very little about what explains the evolution of prejudice, or rather about how and why prejudice changes over time. We argue that this piece is essential to comprehending fully the nature of the phenomenon.
Integrating sociological and social-psychological approaches to prejudice, we analyze the evolution of prejudice at three different analytical levels, allowing us to investigate change within individuals over time, between individuals across countries over time, and within and between countries over time. Project 1 focuses on the impact of socializing agents on prejudice development during adolescence. Project 2 investigates the relationship between prejudice and the broader social context over time. Project 3 examines how manifestations of prejudice in media evolve over time.
Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, 2016-07177
Richard Janis Goldschmidt
This program breaks new ground by its comprehensive and integrated approach to studying the evolution of prejudice. Social scientists, especially psychologists, have contributed significantly to our understanding of the origins and nature of prejudice, but we still know very little about what explains the evolution of prejudice over time, or rather about how and why prejudice changes. We argue that this piece is essential to comprehending fully the nature of the phenomenon. Integrating sociological and social-psychological approaches to prejudice, we propose research to analyze the evolution of prejudice at three different analytical levels, allowing us to investigate change within individuals over time, between individuals across countries over time, and within and between countries over time. By employing this integrated, dynamic, and comprehensive strategy, the program has the potential to disentangle how and why prejudice evolves over time and thus transform how we understand the phenomenon. By doing so, our research will also contribute to the literature on attitudes and attitudinal change more generally.
