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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Biais de discrimination et statut social : une étude de terrain sur les relations intergroupes

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International audience; This study concerns discrimination bias in relations between work groups. As new developments in categorisation theory have shown, several factors modulate the effects of inter-group categorisation. Among these, status is viewed as introducing conflict between groups. We studied the impact of this factor in a work situation where status was not linked to power, choosing a firm in which relations between groups were conflict provoking. Three work groups within the same mobile phone firm were selected on the basis of their status : the ''Hard'' group, considered as high status in relation to the low status ''Administration'' group, and the ''Production'' group with an intermediary position. Thirty-five participants completed a questionnaire evaluating staff members (seven chosen at random from each group) by giving a score (from 0 to 10) for ability, intelligence and sociability. The results confirm the statutory position of each group : ''Hard'' has the highest status, ''Administration'' the lowest, and ''Production'' an intermediate status relatively close to the production group. The results also confirm the existence of a discrimination bias and show different strategies linked to status. The high status group discriminate against the lower groups through an outgroup de-favouritism'' bias in order to maintain their dominant position, while the lower groups seek to improve their social standing through an ''in-group favouritism'' bias or even an ''out-group favouritism''