Fabrice Buschini

Entre méritocratie et préjugés, la discrimination positive peut-elle se frayer un chemin ?

Research shows that prejudice against minorities and approval of meritocratic values are powerful determinants of the successful implementation of affirmative action policies aiming to assist minorities in their occupational mobility. Beliefs in meritocracy predict individuals� opposition to strong affirmative action measures, that is, measures that put high emphasis on the minority group membership. The level of prejudice predicts individuals� opposition to milder measures, that is, measures that take into account the targets� professional qualifications in addition to their group membership. The present study was carried out in a naturalistic setting involving Human Resources executives working in French companies. We manipulated the participants� approval of meritocratic values, and assessed their judgment of various affirmative action policies, varying in strength, in favor of women�s occupational mobility. The results showed, on the one hand, that lesser approval of meritocratic values instigates a more favorable judgment of strong affirmative action policies, but decreased favorability of milder policies. The participants� level of prejudice against women explained, on the other hand, acceptance of these latter policies.

Individuation in job offers as a function of the status of the occupation

A sample of job offers (n = 4727) from French-language daily newspapers were content analyzed for their gender stereotypicality. It was first predicted that role names, as well as descriptions of the job and the applicant, would be predominantly non-sex-typed (Hypothesis 1). Hypothesis 2 predicted that generic role names would contain more masculine than feminine stereotypes compared to gender-fair role names. It was further predicted that the sex-typing of the role names would decrease as a function of the status of the job (Hypothesis 3) and that the amount of individuating information provided about the occupation and the applicant would increase as a function of status (Hypothesis 4). The findings provided overall support for the hypotheses, showing that gender stereotypes still pervade job advertising, but mostly at the lower levels of the occupational hierarchy. Un échantillon d’offres d’emploi (n = 4727) provenant de la presse quotidienne francophone a été soumis à une analyse de contenu centrée sur la stéréotypie de genre. La première hypothèse prédit que la dénomination du poste, ainsi que les descriptions du poste et du candidat potentiel sont majoritairement non typées sexuellement. L’Hypothèse 2 prédit que les dénominations épicènes du poste, par opposition aux dénominations génériques, sont accompagnées de descriptions qui accordent une plus large place aux stéréotypes féminins. Les deux hypothèses principales concernent le rôle du statut social du poste. Elles prédisent que les postes de statut social élevé sont moins typés sexuellement dans leur dénomination que les postes de bas statut social (Hypothèse 3), et que les premiers contiennent davantage d’informations individualisantes concernant les exigences du poste et les caractéristiques souhaitées des candidats (Hypothèse 4). Les résultats apportent une confirmation de ces hypothèses, montrant que la stéréotypie de genre demeure bien présente dans les offres d’emploi, mais cela essentiellement pour les postes situés au bas de la hiérarchie socioprofessionnelle.