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Published in

SAGE Publications, Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 5(17), p. 563-576, 2014

DOI: 10.1177/1368430213514122

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Low status groups show in-group favoritism to compensate for their low status and compete for higher status

Journal article published in 2014 by Mark Rubin ORCID, Constantina Badea, Jolanda Jetten
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

The present research investigated the intergroup allocation behavior of members of low-status groups. In two studies where status relations were either relatively illegitimate (Study 1, N = 139) or legitimate (Study 2, N = 114), undergraduate students completed a minimal group resource allocation task that took into account the intergroup status hierarchy. In both studies, members of low-status groups showed two forms of in-group favoritism. They selected resource allocation choices that (a) compensated for their low status and led to intergroup fairness ( compensatory favoritism) and (b) competed with the out-group for status and led to positive distinctiveness for the in-group ( competitive favoritism). These results suggest that members of low-status groups use in-group favoritism to make their group (a) as good as the high-status out-group and (b) better than the high-status out-group. The findings support the idea that in-group favoritism can serve different functions.