Erika V. Hall

Gendered Races Implications for Interracial Marriage, Leadership Selection, and Athletic Participation

Six studies explored the overlap between racial and gender stereotypes, and the consequences of this overlap for interracial dating, leadership selection, and athletic participation. Two initial studies captured the explicit and implicit gender content of racial stereotypes: Compared with the White stereotype, the Asian stereotype was more feminine, whereas the Black stereotype was more masculine. Study 3 found that heterosexual White men had a romantic preference for Asians over Blacks and that heterosexual White women had a romantic preference for Blacks over Asians; preferences for masculinity versus femininity mediated participants’ attraction to Blacks relative to Asians. The pattern of romantic preferences observed in Study 3 was replicated in Study 4, an analysis of the data on interracial marriages from the 2000 U.S. Census. Study 5 showed that Blacks were more likely and Asians less likely than Whites to be selected for a masculine leadership position. In Study 6, an analysis of college athletics showed that Blacks were more heavily represented in more masculine sports, relative to Asians. These studies demonstrate that the gender content of racial stereotypes has important real-world consequences.

Gender Profiling A Gendered Race Perspective on Person–Position Fit

The current research integrates perspectives on gendered race and person–position fit to introduce the concept of a gender profile. We propose that both the “gender” of a person’s biological sex and the “gender” of a person’s race (Asians are perceived as feminine and Blacks as masculine) help comprise an individual’s gender profile—the overall femininity or masculinity associated with their demographic characteristics. We also propose that occupational positions have gender profiles. Finally, we argue that the overall gender profile of one’s demographics, rather than just one’s biological sex, determines one’s fit and hirability for feminine or masculine occupational roles. The current five studies establish the gender profiles of different races and sexes, and then demonstrate that individuals with feminine-typed and masculine-typed gender profiles are selected for feminine and masculine positions, respectively. These studies provide new insights on who gets ahead in different environments.

Medium and Message: Globalization and innovation in the production field of Indian fashion

How do unconventional innovations become accepted in creative industries? To uncover the process by which conventions changed in the field of Indian fashion, we analysed the content of all 586 articles on fashion published in India’s leading fashion magazine during a 20-year period. The results of this exploratory analysis indicate that a regulatory change triggered economic liberalization in India, and the resultant globalizing forces facilitated interdiscursivity in the fashion media. As a result, the conventions of the global fashion paradigm permeated the Indian media discourse, gained acceptance, and came to co-exist with the previous “local” model of fashion and its conventions. This process increased the visibility of innovations that were previously peripheral in the field. The findings offer initial insights into the processes of change in creative industries, which are characterized as being relatively difficult to alter. The results have implications for organizational research in the areas of creative industries and innovation.

Reexamining the Link Between Economic Downturns and Racial Antipathy: Evidence That Prejudice Against Blacks Rises During Recessions:

Scholars have long argued that economic downturns intensify racial discord. However, empirical support for this relationship has been mixed, with most recent studies finding no evidence that downturns provoke greater racial animosity. Yet most past research has focused on hate crimes, a particularly violent and relatively infrequent manifestation of racial antipathy. In this article, we reexamine the relationship between economic downturns and racial acrimony using more subtle indicators of racial animosity. We found that during economic downturns, Whites felt less warmly about Blacks (Studies 1 and 2), held more negative explicit and implicit attitudes about Blacks, were more likely to condone the use of stereotypes, and were more willing to regard inequality between groups as natural and acceptable (Study 2). Moreover, during downturns, Black musicians (Study 3) and Black politicians (Study 4) were less likely to secure a musical hit or win a congressional election.

The Power of Words: The Role of Re-naming, Re-labeling, and Self-labeling Stigmatized Groups

Group labels are often carriers of contempt and stigma that negatively affect stigmatized group members’ outcomes in teams and organizations. This symposium explores strategies – re-naming, re-labe...