Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

1998

Thesis Director

Julia C. Jorgensen

Abstract

The present study investigated race and class stereotypes about Whites and African-Americans. The study recruited 160 subjects (eighty White and eighty African-American). Each subject read a brief class and race description of a person, and listed ten adjectives rating how positive or negative they intended the adjective to be. They also had to place themselves in a class and rate the importance of criteria used in that class placement. The study revealed that African-American (A.A.) subjects gave highest ratings to a person described as A.A., and White (W.) subjects gave highest ratings to a person described as W. Furthermore, subjects who were largely middle class gave a person described as middle class higher ratings than a person described as lower class. Finally, the more weight given to beliefs as a criterion in class placement, the more likely a subject would generate adjectives that refer to beliefs when describing a person. However, this was not a strong finding. Overall, the results were consistent with ingroup-outgroup theories.

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