The Intersection of Race, Class, and Gender in Higher Education: Implications for Discrimination and Policy by Tiffany Monique Griffin A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology) in The University of Michigan 2009 Doctoral Committee: Professor Richard D. Gonzalez, Chair Professor Phillip J. Bowman Professor James S. Jackson Associate Professor Tabbye M. Chavous Associate Professor Elizabeth R. Cole © Tiffany Monique Griffin All rights reserved 2009 Acknowledgments I would first like to thank God for putting the obstacles in my life that have greatly shaped my worldview and then for putting the formal and informal mentors in my life who would help me overcome those barriers. I would like to thank those who believed in me when I did not believe in myself, who encouraged, supported, and pushed me when I wanted to stop. I’d like to thank Auntie Karen for being my original surrogate mom. If it wasn’t for you, I would not have made it through childhood. And G-Dad (rest in peace) and Paulette (Ma) (rest in peace) for stepping in during my high school years. If not for you, I wouldn’t have made it through adolescence. I’d like to thank Ms. Keenan for instilling in me an appreciation for the beauty of the written word, Mrs. DiMichelle for letting me skip classes in order to work on my college applications, and Kalena for being my number one role model (even though you had no idea!). I’d like to thank Mom for chronically praising my academic accomplishments, for bragging (even though it annoyed me), and for being proud. And Nana (Sam) for sending me money for ‘ice cream,’ for always being so happy about everything thing that I did, for listening, for consoling, for putting me up during data collection ☺, for visiting, for cake (and pie) and for keeping me semi-stylish during graduate school. I’d like to thank Dr. Matelski for showing me how amazing teaching can be. I’d like to thank Dr. Morelli for pushing me past my discontent of undergraduate psychology and for being the first person to connect psychology and policy. I’d like to thank Drs. Janet Helms and Hassell McCollougm for mentoring me during my final, yet pivotal days at Boston College. You illuminated the ii process of applying to graduate school, told me that I had to go to Michigan, and made completely lucid what role I played in shaping my educational future. I’d like to thank Dr. Donald Brown of BC’s AHANA who stepped in during the most grim days of undergrad. I’d like to thank Dr. Phoebe Ellsworth for being just plain awesome and Lingling at CSCAR for patience and invaluable help with my analyses! I would like to thank my AMAZING, dedicated, intelligent, mature, fantastically superb research assistants to whom I am COMPLETELY indebted for the completion of my dissertation. I’d like to thank the UM Psychology Department, the Black Students Psychological Association, Courtney (my new sister!), Teresa (my twin!), Sara, Christina, Manan, Carmela, Keith, Keyla, Nana (Lula), Greatnana, Cassie, Enrique, Dr. Annie Jones, Rossi Ray-Taylor, Lynise, Sandra Bingham, Jose, Francine, Derrick and Noemi, Toya, Leah, Rosario, and other family members and friends who never ceased to make me feel so proud of my accomplishments. It truly takes a village, and I am grateful for all of the support, laughs, poems, hugs, emails, texts, and visits you have given me throughout the years! I would like to thank The Necto for great Friday nights, Espresso Royale for discounts on brewed drinks, Panera for free samples, Hip Hop and Samba for keeping me sane, and Whole Foods, Zingermans’, Eve, and Pacific Rim for satisfying my cravings for overpriced ‘bougsie’ food. And last but definitely not least, I would like to thank my committee. When I decided to apply for graduate school in psychology, I had just finished reading The Autobiography of Assata Shakur. This book immediately sparked my love for and now obsession with revolutionary memoirs. While the technical definition of a revolutionary is “a person who either participates in or advocates revolution,” my iii conception of a revolutionary is: someone who respects the past enough to change the present and to redefine the future; someone who can use enough force to demonstrate compassion; someone who can critically assess problems (with the sugar coating left to conventionalists) yet instill the hope that people need to combat those problems; someone who leads while listening; someone who inspires with humility; someone who empowers by example; someone who sees the creativity in artistic strategy; and someone who recognizes and accepts responsibility without assuming that one can control the uncontrollable. And over the past five years, the more and more I thought about being a revolutionary, the more and more I realized that I would use the same exact definition to denote a mentor. And the more and more I realized that I can make this connection between being a revolutionary and being a mentor because my committee members have showed me by example. Thank you does not express my gratitude, but I will say it anyway. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being first hand illustrators of the type of mentor, advisor, innovator, and education I aspire to one day be. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………….ii List of Tables ……………………………………………………………………………vii List of Figures …………………………………………………………………………..viii Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………...x Chapter 1: Introduction ……………………………………………………………….......1 The Conceptual Framework ………………………………………………………3 The Three Papers …………………………………………………………………4 Chapter 2: Applying Discrimination Perpetration to the Study of Educational Disparities: A Social Psychological (Yet Interdisciplinary) Approach………………………………...9 Discrimination Perpetration Revealed …………………………………………..11 Intersectionality and Discrimination Perpetration ……………………………....24 Considering Context …………………………………………………………….32 Summary and Conclusions ……………………………………………………...35 Chapter 3: Women and Minorities ………………………………………………………49 Method …………………………………………………………………………..54 Results …………………………………………………………………………...58 Discussion ……………………………………………………………………….60 Chapter 4: Race or Class? ……………………………………………………………….81 Method …………………………………………………………………………..89 v Results …………………………………………………………………………...91 Discussion …………………………………………………………………….....94 Chapter 5: Conclusion ………………………………………………………………….113 Summary of Major Findings …………………………………………………...113 Methodological Challenges and Limitations …………………………………..116 Future Directions ………………………………………………………………118 Implications …………………………………………………………………….119 Conclusion: Why Study Systematic Biases in Affirmative Action Endorsement as a Measure of Discrimination Perpetration? ……………………………………122 vi List of Tables Table 3.1 Names Pre-Test Version A (Percentages): The Top Three Whitest and Blackest Names ………………………………………………………………….66 Table 3.2 Names Pre-Test Version B (Means): Ranking the Top Whitest and Blackest Names ………………………………………………………………….67 Table 3.3 Endorsement Rates of at Least One Gender-Based Affirmative Action Program Type by Gender ………………………………………………………..68 Table 3.4 Logistic Regression Analyses for Endorsements of at Least One Gender-Based Affirmative Action Type: Main Effects for Race and Gender, Interaction Effects for Race x Gender …………………………………………..69 Table 3.5 Logistic Regression Analyses for Endorsements of at Least One Gender-Based Affirmative Action Type: Condition Effects ……………………70 Table 4.1 Endorsement Rates of Social Class-Based Affirmative Action by Gender ………………………………………………………………………….103 Table 4.2 Logistic Regression Analyses for Endorsements of Social Class-Based Affirmative Action ……………………………………………………………..104 vii List of Figures Figure 2.1 Psychological Approaches to Studying Discrimination ……………………..37 Figure 3.1 Schematic Representation of Distributive Justice-Based Predictions for Female Powerholders …………………………………………………………………………….71 Figure 3.2a Schematic Representation of Distributive Justice-Based Predictions for Male Powerholders …………………………………………………………………………….72 Figure 3.2b Schematic Representation of Predictions of Distributive Justice-Based Predictions for Male Powerholders ……………………………………………………...73 Figure 3.3a Schematic Representation of Predictions for Male Powerholders Based on the Subordinate Male Threat Hypothesis ……………………………………………………74 Figure 3.3b Schematic Representation of Predictions for Male Powerholders Based on the Subordinate Male Threat Hypothesis ……………………………………………………75 Figure 3.4 Schematic Representation of Predictions for Male Powerholders Based on (Additive) Multiple Jeopardy Hypotheses ………………………………………………76 Figure 4.1 Female Endorsement Patterns for Social Class-Based Affirmative Action for Targets from Low Social Class Backgrounds ………………………………………….105 Figure 4.2 Female Endorsement Patterns for Social Class-Based Affirmative Action for Targets from High Social Class Backgrounds …………………………………………106 Figure 4.3 Male Endorsement Patterns for Social Class-Based Affirmative Action for Targets from Low Social Class Backgrounds ………………………………………….107 viii Figure 4.4 Male Endorsement Patterns for Social Class-Based Affirmative Action for Targets from High Social Class Backgrounds………………………………………….108 ix Abstract This dissertation examined how discrimination perpetration, operationalized as systematic biases against low power targets in affirmative action endorsement, influenced access to higher education within and between groups. The dissertation provided a description and review of discrimination