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Re‐Establishing the Social‐Class Order: Restorative Reactions against High‐Achieving, Low‐SES Pupils
Author(s) -
Batruch Anatolia,
Autin Frédérique,
Butera Fabrizio
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/josi.12203
Subject(s) - psychology , class (philosophy) , status quo , social class , socioeconomic status , test (biology) , mathematics education , pupil , low income , social hierarchy , hierarchy , social mobility , developmental psychology , order (exchange) , resistance (ecology) , social status , social psychology , sociology , demography , computer science , political science , social science , socioeconomics , paleontology , population , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , law , biology , ecology , finance , economics
This research investigates a barrier faced by low‐SES pupils who are on an upward social mobility trajectory: resistance to their high‐achiever status. We hypothesize that, as they disconfirm the usual social‐class academic disparities (i.e., high‐SES on average outperform low‐SES pupils), they threaten the status quo and induce restorative reactions that may hinder their chances of success. Experiment 1 showed that participants remembered less accurately information about pupils when low‐SES pupils were presented as outperforming high‐SES pupils than when the reverse was true. The errors appeared to be congruent with existing social hierarchies. In Experiment 2, preservice teachers assessed a test supposedly produced by a low‐ versus high‐SES pupil who was presented as being either high or low achieving. The evaluation was harshest when the test was produced by a high‐achieving low‐SES pupil. These results suggest that people attempt to recreate the social‐class academic hierarchy when it is challenged.