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“I Want, Therefore I Am” – Anticipated Upward Mobility Reduces Ingroup Concern

Empirical findings suggest that members of socially disadvantaged groups who join a better-valued group through individual achievement tend to express low concern for their disadvantaged ingroup (e.g., denial of collective discrimination, low intent to initiate collective action). In the present res...

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Autores principales: Chipeaux, Marion, Kulich, Clara, Iacoviello, Vincenzo, Lorenzi-Cioldi, Fabio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5581401/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28894431
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01451
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author Chipeaux, Marion
Kulich, Clara
Iacoviello, Vincenzo
Lorenzi-Cioldi, Fabio
author_facet Chipeaux, Marion
Kulich, Clara
Iacoviello, Vincenzo
Lorenzi-Cioldi, Fabio
author_sort Chipeaux, Marion
collection PubMed
description Empirical findings suggest that members of socially disadvantaged groups who join a better-valued group through individual achievement tend to express low concern for their disadvantaged ingroup (e.g., denial of collective discrimination, low intent to initiate collective action). In the present research, we investigated whether this tendency occurs solely for individuals who have already engaged in social mobility, or also for individuals who psychologically prepare themselves, that is ‘anticipate’, social mobility. Moreover, we examined the role of group identification in this process. In two studies, we looked at the case of ‘frontier workers’, that is people who cross a national border every day to work in another country where the salaries are higher thereby achieving a better socio-economic status than in their home-country. Study 1 (N = 176) examined attitudes of French nationals (both the socially mobile and the non-mobile) and of Swiss nationals toward the non-mobile group. As expected, results showed that the mobile French had more negative attitudes than their non-mobile counterparts, but less negative attitudes than the Swiss. In Study 2 (N = 216), we examined ingroup concern at different stages of the social mobility process by comparing the attitudes of French people who worked in Switzerland (mobile individuals), with those who envisioned (anticipators), or not (non-anticipators), to work in Switzerland. The findings revealed that anticipators’ motivation to get personally involved in collective action for their French ingroup was lower than the non-anticipators’, but higher than the mobile individuals’. Moreover, we found that the decrease in ingroup concern across the different stages of social mobility was accounted for by a lower identification with the inherited ingroup. These findings corroborate the deleterious impact of social mobility on attitudes toward a low-status ingroup, and show that the decrease in ingroup concern already occurs among individuals who anticipate moving up the hierarchy. The discussion focuses on the role of the discounting of inherited identities in both the anticipation and the achievement of a higher-status identity.
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spelling pubmed-55814012017-09-11 “I Want, Therefore I Am” – Anticipated Upward Mobility Reduces Ingroup Concern Chipeaux, Marion Kulich, Clara Iacoviello, Vincenzo Lorenzi-Cioldi, Fabio Front Psychol Psychology Empirical findings suggest that members of socially disadvantaged groups who join a better-valued group through individual achievement tend to express low concern for their disadvantaged ingroup (e.g., denial of collective discrimination, low intent to initiate collective action). In the present research, we investigated whether this tendency occurs solely for individuals who have already engaged in social mobility, or also for individuals who psychologically prepare themselves, that is ‘anticipate’, social mobility. Moreover, we examined the role of group identification in this process. In two studies, we looked at the case of ‘frontier workers’, that is people who cross a national border every day to work in another country where the salaries are higher thereby achieving a better socio-economic status than in their home-country. Study 1 (N = 176) examined attitudes of French nationals (both the socially mobile and the non-mobile) and of Swiss nationals toward the non-mobile group. As expected, results showed that the mobile French had more negative attitudes than their non-mobile counterparts, but less negative attitudes than the Swiss. In Study 2 (N = 216), we examined ingroup concern at different stages of the social mobility process by comparing the attitudes of French people who worked in Switzerland (mobile individuals), with those who envisioned (anticipators), or not (non-anticipators), to work in Switzerland. The findings revealed that anticipators’ motivation to get personally involved in collective action for their French ingroup was lower than the non-anticipators’, but higher than the mobile individuals’. Moreover, we found that the decrease in ingroup concern across the different stages of social mobility was accounted for by a lower identification with the inherited ingroup. These findings corroborate the deleterious impact of social mobility on attitudes toward a low-status ingroup, and show that the decrease in ingroup concern already occurs among individuals who anticipate moving up the hierarchy. The discussion focuses on the role of the discounting of inherited identities in both the anticipation and the achievement of a higher-status identity. Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-08-28 /pmc/articles/PMC5581401/ /pubmed/28894431 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01451 Text en Copyright © 2017 Chipeaux, Kulich, Iacoviello and Lorenzi-Cioldi. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Chipeaux, Marion
Kulich, Clara
Iacoviello, Vincenzo
Lorenzi-Cioldi, Fabio
“I Want, Therefore I Am” – Anticipated Upward Mobility Reduces Ingroup Concern
title “I Want, Therefore I Am” – Anticipated Upward Mobility Reduces Ingroup Concern
title_full “I Want, Therefore I Am” – Anticipated Upward Mobility Reduces Ingroup Concern
title_fullStr “I Want, Therefore I Am” – Anticipated Upward Mobility Reduces Ingroup Concern
title_full_unstemmed “I Want, Therefore I Am” – Anticipated Upward Mobility Reduces Ingroup Concern
title_short “I Want, Therefore I Am” – Anticipated Upward Mobility Reduces Ingroup Concern
title_sort “i want, therefore i am” – anticipated upward mobility reduces ingroup concern
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5581401/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28894431
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01451
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