Social class, gender and working status as determinants of stereotype content in two cultures

Abstract

The present study examines some of the implications of the Stereotype Content Model (SCM; Fiske et al., 2002) by assessing the mediational role of groups' status and competition on the effect of cross-cutting categories (i.e., social class, gender, and working status) on stereotype content in two cultures, the US and Turkey, using structural equation modeling. Participants rated 12 target groups on status, competition, competence and warmth. Metric equivalence of the latent variables was established. Social class was the strongest predictor of stereotype content in both cultures. As predicted, its effect on competence was mediated through status, and its effect on warmth was mediated through competition. Also as predicted, status mediated the effect of working status on competence in both cultures. Only in the United States, competition also mediated the effect of working status on warmth. In general, findings support the utility of assessing the two mediators in understanding stereotype content while pointing to cultural variation in the effects of specific aspects of social standing. © 2021 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.