Structure versus agency: a cross-national examination of discrimination and the internalization of negative stereotypes

ABSTRACT

How can we situate discrimination and the internalization of negative stereotypes in their contextual and structural determinants? To answer, I empirically examine linkages between structural inequalities, ethnic discrimination and the internalization of negative stereotypes. Data come from the UNDP, interrogating the lived experiences of Europe’s Roma population (N = 4651), utilizing a multilevel framework. I show that the relationship between stratification and stereotype internalization is more nuanced at the population level than what has been illustrated so far in controlled experimental research settings. Both structural inequality and discrimination influence the internalization of negative stereotypes. Ethnic discrimination and the internalization of negative stereotypes closely parallel each other. The above phenomena are distinctly influenced by factors such as gender, group educational attainment levels, group-level gendered income distributions and country-level political and economic contexts. My results show that in highly unequal environments, factors that we often think of as protective – such as higher education – may carry unintended consequences when it comes to the internalization of negative stereotypes. My analysis serves as an important first step in tracing the contours of the simultaneous effects of individual and structural discrimination on the internalization of negative stereotypes.

KEYWORDS:

• Race/ethnicity
• stratification processes
• negative stereotypes
• stigma
• discrimination

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Boróka B. Bó is a sociologist, mathematical demographer and data scientist. For the last 10 years, she has worked on the statistical modeling of population-level processes as they are internalized by individuals. Her research interests broadly encompass areas of stratification, migration, gender, health and demography. She specializes in incorporating a mixed method approach to understand complex social phenomena, combining multiple qualitative methods with ‘big data’ and digital demography. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in the joint PhD Programs in Sociology and Demography at the University of California, Berkeley.

ORCID

Boróka B. Bó http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2675-2169

Notes

1 Some notable exceptions to the above individual-level perspective can be found in recent literature: Lamont et al. (2016) show that there are group-specific nuances when it comes to how individuals respond to discriminatory incidents; Hughes et al. (2016) examine how racial identity influences self-esteem in African Americans, and Massey and Owens (2014) test the link between stereotype threat and institutional characteristics.

2 Anon. 2012.

3 https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/06/03/only-tiny-minority-roma-enter-higher-education-europe.

4 http://www.sussex.ac.uk/education/cheer/researchprojects/rise/impactevent; http://www.errc.org/press-releases/ngos-visit-hungary-to-find-successful-practices-on-roma-education-and-desegregation.

5 https://kopachi.com/articles/roma-in-romania-valeriu-nicolae/.

6 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-romania-roma-property-feature/roma-fear-there-is-no-place-for-them-as-romanias-cities-modernize-idUSKBN16T043.