Social psychological theorizing assumes that 1) members of dominant and oppressed racial groups subscribe to the same set of cultural beliefs regarding the racial hierarchy in the United States and 2) that patterns of deference in task groups reflect broader patterns of inequality in society. With the use white and black research participants at two research sites, this thesis examines these assumptions with regards to the proposed tri-racial hierarchy of the Latin Americanization Thesis, which asserts that the racial hierarchy in the U.S. is now primarily determined by phenotype, as opposed to traditional racial and ethnic boundaries.
Do White and Black Americans associate similar perceptions of status with members of the proposed tri-racial hierarchy? In addition, skin tone is associated with socioeconomic status among blacks in the U.S., but do research participants defer to members of the pigmentocracy in a manner consistent with these broader patterns of inequality? These questions are assessed by matching white and black research participants with either a white, light-skinned black, or dark-skinned black partner for the completion of a joint task.
The results of the multi-site experiment suggest that there is racial invariance with the perceived status associated with members of the pigmentocracy. More generally, whites exhibit patterns of active denial and report that most others believe dark-skinned blacks are more competent than light-skinned blacks, who most others believe are more competent than whites. Whites purportedly personally subscribe to these pattern of beliefs. Blacks, however, exhibit a pattern of active resistance to stigmatizing beliefs: while they report that oppressed members of the pigmentocracy are held in lower regard by most others in society, they refuse to personally endorse these stigmatizing beliefs.
These attitudinal reactions had implications for the patterns of deference that emerged when jointly completing the group task. While patterns of influence emergent in group tasks generally reflect broader patterns of stratification in society, this failed to be the case when participants interacted with members of the pigmentocracy most phenotypically distinct from themselves. That is, when racial distinctions were most salient, research participants consciously reacted against the pigmentocracy, obstructing the activation of the status generalization process. The implications of these results for model testing and development, and for identifying racial biases in the current racial climate are discussed.