Showing papers on "Prejudice published in 2014"

The neuroscience of prejudice and stereotyping

Abstract: Despite global increases in diversity, social prejudices continue to fuel intergroup conflict, disparities and discrimination. Moreover, as norms have become more egalitarian, prejudices seem to have 'gone underground', operating covertly and often unconsciously, such that they are difficult to detect and control. Neuroscientists have recently begun to probe the neural basis of prejudice and stereotyping in an effort to identify the processes through which these biases form, influence behaviour and are regulated. This research aims to elucidate basic mechanisms of the social brain while advancing our understanding of intergroup bias in social behaviour.

Improving intergroup relations with extended and vicarious forms of indirect contact

Abstract: Research in social psychology has provided impressive evidence that intergroup contact reduces prejudice. However, to the extent that strategies based on direct contact are sometimes difficult to implement, scholars have more recently focused on indirect contact. An effective form of indirect contact is extended contact. According to the extended contact hypothesis, simply knowing that ingroup members have outgroup friends (extended contact), or observing these friendships vicariously (vicarious contact), can improve intergroup relations. Since its initial formulation a large body of studies has supported the validity of the extended contact hypothesis. In reviewing the available literature on two forms of indirect contact (extended and vicarious), we outline a model that identifies their antecedents and consequences, spanning from cognitive to affective to behavioural outcomes. In addition to identifying the main moderators of indirect contact, we also distinguish two different routes, one cognitive and ...

The Myth of Race: The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific Idea

Abstract: Biological races do not exist and never have. This view is shared by all scientists who study variation in human populations. Yet racial prejudice and intolerance based on the myth of race remain deeply ingrained in Western society. In his powerful examination of a persistent, false, and poisonous idea, Robert Sussman explores how race emerged as a social construct from early biblical justifications to the pseudoscientific studies of today."""""The Myth of Race" traces the origins of modern racist ideology to the Spanish Inquisition, revealing how sixteenth-century theories of racial degeneration became a crucial justification for Western imperialism and slavery. In the nineteenth century, these theories fused with Darwinism to produce the highly influential and pernicious eugenics movement. Believing that traits from cranial shape to raw intelligence were immutable, eugenicists developed hierarchies that classified certain races, especially fair-skinned Aryans, as superior to others. These ideologues proposed programs of intelligence testing, selective breeding, and human sterilization policies that fed straight into Nazi genocide. Sussman examines how opponents of eugenics, guided by the German-American anthropologist Franz Boas s new, scientifically supported concept of culture, exposed fallacies in racist thinking.Although eugenics is now widely discredited, some groups and individuals today claim a new scientific basis for old racist assumptions. Pondering the continuing influence of racist research and thought, despite all evidence to the contrary, Sussman explains why when it comes to race too many people still mistake bigotry for science."

The rise of anti-Muslim prejudice: Media and Islamophobia in Europe and the United States

Abstract: The goal of this study is to determine the possible factors leading to increased anti-Muslim sentiment or Islamophobia in a comparative examination of public opinion in the United States and Europe. Secondary analyses of data from the 2008 Pew Global Attitude Project and the 2010 Pew News Interest Index, allow us to assess the role of religious practice, news interest and political affiliation in the attitudes toward Muslim minorities in several countries. Predictors of anti-Muslim attitudes include being politically more conservative and being older in all countries, and paying close attention to news coverage of the Park51 Islamic Community Center in the United States (which was proposed to be built near Ground Zero in New York). In France, but not in the other countries of the study, the importance of the respondents' religion was positively related to anti-Muslim attitudes.

Warmth of the Welcome: Attitudes toward Immigrants and Immigration Policy.

Abstract: Natives' attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policy are important factors in the context of reception of immigrants since they contribute to a warm or chilly welcome, which potentially shapes immigrant and ethnic identities and inter-group relations. Public opinion polls show a recent "warming" of Americans' traditional ambivalence about immigration. Empirical research on attitudes toward immigrants and racial groups formed by recent waves of immigrants resonate with the dynamic nature of Blumer's (1958) theory of prejudice as a sense of relative group position. To better understand this dynamism, research that intentionally contrasts study sites on conflict and contact conditions and the presence of absence of symbolic politics, as well as research with different native-born racial and ethnic groups, would reveal a broader range of natives' attitude formation processes and the role they play in immigrant reception.

Identity threat at work: how social identity threat and situational cues contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in the workplace

Abstract: Significant disparities remain between racial and ethnic minorities' and Whites' experiences of American workplaces. Traditional prejudice and discrimination approaches explain these gaps in hiring, promotion, satisfaction, and well-being by pointing to the prejudice of people within organizations such as peers, managers, and executives. Grounded in social identity threat theory, this theoretical review instead argues that particular situational cues-often communicated by well-meaning, largely unprejudiced employees and managers-signal to stigmatized groups whether their identity is threatened and devalued or respected and affirmed. First, we provide an overview of how identity threat shapes the psychological processes of racial and ethnic minorities by heightening vigilance to certain situational cues in the workplace. Next, we outline several of these cues and their role in creating and sustaining perceptions of identity threat (or safety). Finally, we provide empirically grounded suggestions that organizations may use to increase identity safety among their employees of color. Taken together, the research demonstrates how situational cues contribute to disparate psychological experiences for racial and ethnic minorities at work, and suggests that by altering threatening cues, organizations may create more equitable, respectful, and inclusive environments where all people may thrive.

Explaining dehumanization among children: the interspecies model of prejudice.

Abstract: Although many theoretical approaches have emerged to explain prejudices expressed by children, none incorporate outgroup dehumanization, a key predictor of prejudice among adults. According to the Interspecies Model of Prejudice, beliefs in the human-animal divide facilitate outgroup prejudice through fostering animalistic dehumanization (Costello & Hodson, 2010). In the present investigation, White children attributed Black children fewer 'uniquely human' characteristics, representing the first systematic evidence of racial dehumanization among children (Studies 1 and 2). In Study 2, path analyses supported the Interspecies Model of Prejudice: children's human-animal divide beliefs predicted greater racial prejudice, an effect explained by heightened racial dehumanization. Similar patterns emerged among parents. Furthermore, parent Social Dominance Orientation predicted child prejudice indirectly through children's endorsement of a hierarchical human-animal divide and subsequent dehumanizing tendencies. Encouragingly, children's human-animal divide perceptions were malleable to an experimental prime highlighting animal-human similarity. Implications for prejudice interventions are considered.

Biographical Narratives of Encounter: The Significance of Mobility and Emplacement in Shaping Attitudes towards Difference.

Abstract: This paper is located within work in urban studies about the significance of contact with difference as a means for reducing prejudice and achieving social change. Recent approaches, influenced by theories of affect, have emphasised non-conscious everyday negotiations of difference in the city. In this paper it is argued that such approaches lose sight of the significance of the subject: of the reflective judgements of ‘others’ made by individuals; of our ability to make decisions around the control of our feelings and identifications; and of the significance of personal pasts and collective histories in shaping the ways we perceive and react to encounters. Rather, this paper uses a biographical approach focusing on interviewees’ narratives of encounter. Through its attention to processes of mobility and emplacement, it contributes to debates about when contact with difference matters by highlighting the importance of everyday social normativities in the production of moral dispositions.

The Rules of Implicit Evaluation by Race, Religion, and Age

Abstract: The social world is stratified. Social hierarchies are known but often disavowed as anachronisms or unjust. Nonetheless, hierarchies may persist in social memory. In three studies (total N > 200,000), we found evidence of social hierarchies in implicit evaluation by race, religion, and age. Participants implicitly evaluated their own racial group most positively and the remaining racial groups in accordance with the following hierarchy: Whites > Asians > Blacks > Hispanics. Similarly, participants implicitly evaluated their own religion most positively and the remaining religions in accordance with the following hierarchy: Christianity > Judaism > Hinduism or Buddhism > Islam. In a final study, participants of all ages implicitly evaluated age groups following this rule: children > young adults > middle-age adults > older adults. These results suggest that the rules of social evaluation are pervasively embedded in culture and mind.

The impact of international experience on cultural intelligence: an application of contact theory in a structured short-term programme

Abstract: The objective of this study is to examine the impact of a short-term international experience, which is designed to address the conditions outlined in Allport’s (Allport, G.W. 1954. The Nature of Prejudice. New York: Perseus Book Group) contact hypothesis, on each of the four factors which make up cultural intelligence (CQ). A sample of 135 university students was broken up into test and control groups. The results for the test group suggest that the short-term experience ranging from 7 to 12 days within a structured study abroad service programme, including modest pre-trip preparation, found a significant increase in each of the four factors of CQ. At the same time, there was no significant change in the control group. Implications for human research development research and practice as well as limitations and suggested areas for future research are discussed.

Sexual Prejudice: Avoiding Unwanted Sexual Interest?

Abstract: Sexual prejudice may arise from beliefs that certain sexual orientation groups direct unwanted sexual interest, with the implication that heterosexual men and women hold prejudices against differen...

Sexual Orientation, Prejudice, and Segregation

Abstract: This article examines whether gay and lesbian workers sort into tolerant occupations. With information on sexual orientation, prejudice, and occupational choice taken from Australian Twin Registers, we find that gays and lesbians shy away from prejudiced occupations. We show that our segregation results are largely driven by those gay and lesbian workers with disclosed identities and are robust to the inclusion of unobserved factors that are inherited and observed factors that strongly correlate with productive skills and vocational preferences. Our segregation estimates are consistent with prejudice-based theories of employer and employee discrimination against gay and lesbian workers.

Examining the associations of racism, sexism, and stressful life events on psychological distress among African-American women

Abstract: African-American women may be susceptible to stressful events and adverse health outcomes as a result of their distinct social location at the intersection of gender and race. Here, racism and sexism are examined concurrently using survey data from 204 African-American women residing in a southeastern U.S. urban city. Associations among racism, sexism, and stressful events across social roles and contexts (i.e., social network loss, motherhood and childbirth, employment and finances, personal illness and injury, and victimization) are investigated. Then, the relationships among these stressors on psychological distress are compared, and a moderation model is explored. Findings suggest that racism and sexism are a significant source of stress in the lives of African-American women and are correlated with one another and with other stressful events. Implications for future research and clinical considerations are discussed.

Perceived control qualifies the effects of threat on prejudice

Abstract: People sometimes show a tendency to lash out in a prejudiced manner when they feel threatened. This research shows that the relationship between threat and prejudice is moderated by people's levels of perceived control: Threat leads to prejudice only when people feel concurrently low in control. In two studies, terrorist threat was associated with heightened prejudice among people who were low in perceived control over the threat (Study 1; N = 87) or over their lives in general (Study 2; N = 2,394), but was not associated with prejudice among people who were high in perceived control. Study 3 (N = 139) replicated this finding experimentally in the context of the Global Financial Crisis. The research identifies control as an important ingredient in threatening contexts that, if bolstered, can reduce general tendencies to lash out under threat.

Do You Say Something When It's Your Boss? The Role of Perpetrator Power in Prejudice Confrontation

Abstract: Two experiments examined the role of perpetrator power in witnesses’ decision to confront a prejudicial remark. In Experiment 1, participants who witnessed a sexist remark by a higher-power (vs. an equal-power) perpetrator were significantly less likely to express confrontation intentions, despite finding the remark highly biased and inappropriate. In Experiment 2, participants read scenarios involving a sexist versus racist remark perpetrated by someone higher vs. lower vs. equal in power, and they reported their confrontation intentions. Perpetrator power again inhibited direct confrontation intentions, and this effect was mediated by perceptions of responsibility for intervening, perceived ability to decide how to respond, and perceived costs versus benefits of confronting. Findings were not qualified by discrimination type (racism vs. sexism) or by individual differences in participant prejudice. Consistent with power-as-approach theory, feeling powerless increased sensitivity to confrontation obstacles and thereby inhibited confrontation intentions.

Social Exclusion of Children: Developmental Origins of Prejudice

Abstract: Over the past decade, developmental and social psychological research has ex-plicitly adopted a developmental intergroup framework, integrating social anddevelopmental psychologyfieldstounderstandtheoriginsofsocialexclusionandprejudice. This article argues that a social developmental analysis of how groupsand individuals experience, evaluate, and understand exclusion is essential for acomplete picture of the human experience, interpretation, and consequences ofexclusion. What has been missing in much of the social psychological researchon exclusion is an incorporation of developmental perspectives; likewise, whathasbeenmissingindevelopmentpsychologicalresearchisafocusongroupiden-tity and group dynamics for understanding the basis for exclusionary behaviorin childhood. Yet, the roots of adult forms of exclusion can be documented inchildhood,andchildrenwhoexperienceexclusionareparticularlyatriskforneg-ative outcomes, and especially when exclusion is based on group membership.Moreover, interventions designed to ameliorate social problems associated withexclusion need to be based on an understanding of how, why, and under whatconditions, children and groups make decisions to exclude others, how they expe-rience this exclusion, and how exclusion originates and changes over the course

A place in the world: Self and social categorization.

Abstract: Social and economic inequality and prejudice against those who are disadvantaged have occurred in almost all societies. Although the magnitude of inequality differs across societies and in societies over time, almost every society has differences in economic resources, power, and social regard available to groups in that society. Social inequality and prejudice have many pernicious effects on disadvantaged individuals, and our focus on self-esteem does not imply that this feeling is the most important consequence of prejudice and inequality. Social psychological theories of the effects of social inequality on self-esteem have been predicated on the assumption that members of groups that are disadvantaged are aware of their disadvantaged state. African Americans are well aware of the history of discrimination against their group and thus socialize their children to find other sources of esteem. African American parents often teach their children that others are prejudiced against them and that prejudice should not affect ones self-worth.

Exclusion, Punishment, Racism, and our Schools A Critical Race Theory Perspective on School Discipline

Abstract: Punitive school discipline procedures have increasingly taken hold in America’s schools. While they are detrimental to the wellbeing and to the academic success of all students, they have proven to disproportionately punish minority students, especially African American youth. Such policies feed into wider social issues that, once more, disproportionately affect minority communities: the school-to-prison pipeline, high school dropout rates, the push-out phenomenon, and the criminalization of schools. Before such pervasive racial inequality can be addressed effectively, the social and the psychological mechanisms that create racial inequality in the first place must be examined. This Comment offers insights from the field of Critical Race Theory on the root causes for racial inequality in American society more broadly, and in the context of school discipline more specifically. It argues that racial stigmatization, stereotyping, and implicit biases that are based on a long history of racial prejudice in the United States continue to infuse seemingly objective standards of what is considered appropriate behavior, as well as the practices — such as punitive school discipline — that are used to enforce such standards. Because a comprehensive remedy to these systemic issues cannot be expected to come from efforts in the courts, advocates will have to rely on alternative strategies to soften and to reverse the negative impact that punitive school discipline imposes on students, especially minority students. This Comment proposes disciplinary practices based on the concept of Restorative Justice as a promising alternative to current disciplinary policies. It argues that Restorative Justice–based disciplinary policies are consistent with core principles of Critical Race Theory and are more conducive to creating a nurturing, safe, and inclusive school environment that not only keeps children in school but also helps to undermine the sources of racial conflict and of racial inequality that have plagued this nation for too long.

Ideological Support for the Indian Caste System: Social Dominance Orientation, Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Karma

Abstract: This paper extends the social dominance perspective to the Indian context by examining the role of belief in Karma (sanchita) in the justification of the Indian caste system. Using social dominance theory (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999) and the dual process model (Duckitt, 2001) as guiding theoretical frameworks, we tested four related hypotheses within a sample of 385 Indian university students. In particular we expected that social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) would both make relatively strong and independent contributions to participants’ endorsement of Karma (H1), as well as their support for antiegalitarian social policies and conventions (H2). We also predicted that endorsement of Karma, itself, would be strongly related to support for these policies, net of the influence of SDO, RWA, as well as generalized prejudice (H3). Finally, and consistent with the notion that Karma functions as a legitimizing ideology, we hypothesized that it would at least partially mediate, net of generalized prejudice, the relationships between SDO and RWA, on the one hand, and antiegalitarian and conventional social policies, on the other (H4). Results of latent variable structural equation modeling provided support for all four hypotheses. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

The symbolic purpose of hate crime law: Ideal victims and emotion:

Abstract: This article examines the symbolic function of hate crime law. By challenging the norms that sustain and promote prejudice, hate crime law seeks to contribute to claims for social justice on behalf of victim groups. This symbolic function cannot be achieved by legal rules alone. Drawing upon theories of emotional thinking, the article argues that the moral work of hate crime laws is dependent upon the capacity of victim groups to engender compassionate thinking that helps reconfigure perceptions of them as dangerous, illegitimate or inferior Others. This analysis seeks to contribute to our understanding of the processes through which some minority communities fall short of the image of ideal victims capable of contributing to the moral claim embedded in hate crime law.

Heterosexual Men’s Confrontation of Sexual Prejudice: The Role of Precarious Manhood

Abstract: Prejudice and discrimination are unfortunate common realities for sexual minorities yet people rarely confront such behavior (Dickter 2012). This is especially problematic because confronting prejudice is one of the most effective weapons against it (e.g., Czopp and Monteith 2003). The present study explores whether men who perceive manhood to be an impermanent state easily taken away by engaging in gender role violations (i.e., precarious manhood; Vandello et al. 2008) are less likely to react negatively to sexually prejudiced interaction partners and therefore less likely to confront sexual prejudice. In addition, we tested whether non-confrontation serves to affirm meta-perceptions of heterosexuality. To test this hypothesis, 88 heterosexual, young adult males, drawn from the undergraduate population of a university in the northeastern U.S., were randomly assigned to either pair with a confederate who expressed blatant sexual prejudice or no blatant prejudice toward a gay applicant in a hiring discussion. Consistent with predictions, precarious manhood predicted lower rates of confronting sexual prejudice, and less negative responses to their interaction partner, while confronting prejudice was associated with believing one would be viewed as gay regardless of individual differences in precarious manhood.

Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Racism? Risks and Benefits to Teaching Children About Intergroup Biases

Abstract: By the time children start formal schooling, they endorse stereotypes and exhibit prejudice on the basis of many traits, including age, attractiveness, disability status, gender, and race. Despite the relevance of these phenomena to children's lives, as well as to understanding historical and contemporary human relations, little consensus exists about whether, when, or how to teach children about intergroup biases (i.e., stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination). In this article, we review the risks and benefits of learning about intergroup biases among elementary school children. We conclude that lessons about intergroup biases are valuable and call for additional research on how best to maximize their effectiveness for improving intergroup relations while minimizing associated risks.

Who Coined the Concept of Ethnocentrism? A Brief Report

Abstract: It is widely assumed that Sumner coined the concept of ethnocentrism in 1906. This attribution is prominent in psychology and the social sciences and is found in major works on ethnocentrism, intergroup relations, and prejudice. A review of classic sources written in German, Polish, and English shows that the concept had existed in numerous publications for at least several decades before Sumner's writings on ethnocentrism (e.g., Gumplowicz, 1879, 1881). This article presents early conceptualizations of ethnocentrism and potential influences on Sumner. It also discusses implications of this conceptual history, such as biases that may have contributed to the widespread belief that Sumner coined the concept. It is argued that psychologists and other social scientists should stop attributing the origin of the concept to Sumner, despite his important role in popularizing it, and, in general, should engage more with their intellectual history in different languages.

Rethinking value violation: priming religion increases prejudice in Singaporean Christians and Buddhists

Abstract: Ingroup religious priming has been shown to increase prejudice in American Christians, but it is currently unknown whether this effect can be generalized to other religions and cultures. The present research assessed the effects of religious priming on attitudes toward religious and cultural outgroups in Christian and Buddhist students at a Singapore university. Both Christians and Buddhists primed with religious ingroup words demonstrated more negative pretest to posttest attitude change toward homosexuals than those primed with neutral words. This effect remained even when statistically controlling for levels of right-wing authoritarianism and spirituality. These results indicate that religious priming affects Christians and Buddhists in the same way, promoting bias towards culturally relevant outgroups even in the absence of religious value-violation. This suggests that religion may exert its prejudicial effects indirectly through activation of associated cultural value systems, such as traditionalism/...

Sexism in schools.

Abstract: Sexism is gender-based prejudice or discrimination. As with other forms of prejudice and discrimination, it functions to maintain status and power differences between groups in society. One manifestation of sexism involves prejudice and discrimination against girls and women who seek to achieve in prestigious fields traditionally associated with males. Another manifestation of sexism, however, occurs when pressures are placed on boys and men to conform to traditional conceptions of masculinity. Over the last two decades, an increasing number of developmental and educational psychologists have become concerned about sexism directed toward children and adolescents in school contexts. Our chapter reviews the research on this topic. After providing an overview of different processes related to sexism, we examine how it is manifested in school contexts. Sexism is seen through gender-stereotyped biases against girls and boys in academic and athletic achievement. Also, it occurs through sexual harassment in social interactions. We also address factors related to children's awareness of sexism and coping responses to sexism. Finally, we consider possible ways to reduce sexism and foster effective coping in schools.

The Sociology of Theodor Adorno

Abstract: Theodor Adorno is a widely-studied figure, but most often with regard to his work on cultural theory, philosophy and aesthetics. The Sociology of Theodor Adorno provides the first thorough English-language account of Adorno's sociological thinking. Matthias Benzer reads Adorno's sociology through six major themes: the problem of conceptualising capitalist society; empirical research; theoretical analysis; social critique; the sociological text; and the question of the non-social. Benzer explains the methodological and theoretical ideas informing Adorno's reflections on sociology and illustrates Adorno's approach to examining social life, including astrology, sexual taboos and racial prejudice. Benzer clarifies Adorno's sociology in relation to his work in other disciplines and the inspiration his sociology took from social thinkers such as Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Kracauer and Benjamin. The book raises critical questions about the viability of Adorno's sociological mode of procedure and its potential contributions and challenges to current debates in social science.

Moral judgments about Jewish–Arab intergroup exclusion: The role of cultural identity and contact.

Abstract: Prejudice and discrimination as justifications for social exclusion are often viewed as violations of the moral principles of welfare, justice, and equality, but intergroup exclusion can also often be viewed as a necessary and legitimate means to maintain group identity and cohesion (Rutland, Killen, & Abrams, 2010). The current study was guided by the social reasoning developmental perspective (Killen & Rutland, 2011) to examine the moral judgments of social exclusion encounters, and the degree to which cultural identity and actual contact with members of other cultural groups is related to social evaluations. Surprisingly, no research has examined how intergroup contact bears on moral judgments about Jewish–Arab encounters in the United States. The current study surveyed 241 Jewish and 249 non-Arab/ non-Jewish (comparison group) 14- and 17-year-olds to assess their cultural identification, intergroup contact, and moral judgments regarding intergroup peer social exclusion situations between Jewish and Arab youth in peer, home, and community contexts. Participants overwhelmingly rejected exclusion of an outgroup member explicitly because of their group membership. Context effects emerged, and exclusion was rated as most acceptable in the community context and least acceptable in the peer context. Three factors of identity (i.e., exploration, commitment, and concern for relationships) were explored. Generally, higher identity commitment and lower identity concern for relationships were related to more inclusive evaluations. Interactions between the identity factors and intergroup contact and cultural group, however, differentially predicted evaluations of intergroup exclusion.

Maintaining distinctions under threat: Heterosexual men endorse the biological theory of sexuality when equality is the norm

Abstract: According to social identity theory, group members sometimes react to threats to their group's distinctiveness by asserting the distinctiveness of their group. In four studies (n = 261) we tested the hypothesis that heterosexual men with a greater propensity to be threatened by homosexuality would react to egalitarian norms by endorsing biological theories of sexuality. Heterosexual men, but not women, with narrow prototypes of their gender in-group endorsed biological theories the most (Study 1). Heterosexual men with higher gender self-esteem, with heterosexist attitudes, who endorsed traditional gender roles, and with narrow prototypes of their gender in-group, endorsed the biological theories more when egalitarian norms rather than anti-egalitarian norms (Studies 2 and 3) or pro-minority ideologies that emphasized group differences (Study 4) were made salient. These findings show group-level reactive distinctiveness among members of a high-status group in a context of threat to the unique privileges that they once enjoyed. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

The Contribution of Applied Social Sciences to Obesity Stigma-Related Public Health Approaches

Abstract: Obesity is viewed as a major public health concern, and obesity stigma is pervasive. Such marginalization renders obese persons a "special population." Weight bias arises in part due to popular sources' attribution of obesity causation to individual lifestyle factors. This may not accurately reflect the experiences of obese individuals or their perspectives on health and quality of life. A powerful role may exist for applied social scientists, such as anthropologists or sociologists, in exploring the lived and embodied experiences of this largely discredited population. This novel research may aid in public health intervention planning. Through these studies, applied social scientists could help develop a nonstigmatizing, salutogenic approach to public health that accurately reflects the health priorities of all individuals. Such an approach would call upon applied social science's strengths in investigating the mundane, problematizing the "taken for granted" and developing emic (insiders') understandings of marginalized populations.