Group Status and Emotionally Coping with Discrimination

• In Event: Discrimination and Prejudice

Abstract

Anger has been an important emotional force in politics, and runs deep in the lives of many Americans as they interact with the political world. But, do some groups cope differently when feeling angry about issues relevant to politics? Does their group status in society affect the type of coping strategies they choose? And do some groups have more confidence that they can overcome their political problems and therefore better cope with their anger? We argue that one’s group position in society affects the likelihood of pursuing problem-focused coping strategies, such as confrontation, or emotion-focused coping strategies, such as distancing. Groups that are marginalized in the U.S. may be less inclined to pursue confrontive strategies on issues related to their marginalization. Instead, they are likely to opt for emotion-focused coping strategies. To test these arguments, we explore the case of US employment discrimination using a survey experiment conducted through YouGov with a nationally representative sample of Blacks and non-Hispanic Whites. We will present these experimental findings at the conference.

Authors

• Antoine J. Banks, University of Maryland

• Jennifer L. Merolla, University of California, Riverside

• Heather Hicks, Colorado State University

• William Bishop