How do disadvantaged groups perceive allies? Women's perceptions of men who confront sexism in an egalitarian or paternalistic way

L. Estevan-Reina, S. De Lemus, J. L. Megías, H. R. M. Radke, J. C. Becker, Craig McGarty

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this research, we focused on women's perception of men as allies depending on the type of confrontation. We conducted four experimental scenario studies (Study 1 and 2 in a bar setting; Study 3 and 4 in a workplace setting) where a man confronted a sexist comment using either an egalitarian or paternalistic argument. Results showed that women are more likely to perceive egalitarian (vs. paternalistic) confronters as allies (Studies 1–4). This is explained by the fact that they contribute to reducing power asymmetries (decreasing perceived interpersonal power differences: Studies 2 and 4; or increasing women's empowerment: Studies 3 and 4). Furthermore, the egalitarian (vs. paternalistic) confrontation positively impacts interpersonal and intergroup relations, and this is explained by the perception of the confronter as an ally (Studies 1, 2 and 4). We discuss the role of disadvantaged group members’ perception of advantaged group members to disentangle the complexity of alliances.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)892-910
Number of pages19
JournalEuropean Journal of Social Psychology
Volume54
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors. European Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Open Access - Access Right Statement

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2024 The Authors

Keywords

  • empowerment
  • interpersonal perceived power differences
  • men as allies
  • egalitarian confrontation
  • paternalistic confrontation
  • ally perception

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