Comparing a variable-centered and person-centered approach to the structure of prejudice

Whereas research on generalized prejudice is dominated by variable-centered approaches, which focus on communalities between different types of prejudice, we propose a complementary person-centered approach, looking for subgroups of people characterized by similar patterns of prejudice. To this end, we compare the results of a variable-centered (using confirmatory factor analysis, CFA) and a person-centered (using latent class analysis, LCA) approach to generalized prejudice. While CFA points to a multidimensional solution with a strong overlap between prejudice dimensions, LCA distinguishes five prejudice patterns that cannot be organized along a linear continuum of more versus less prejudiced dispositions. Explanatory models for the two solutions are estimated. Results show that the two methods are largely complementary in conceptualizing generalized prejudice.

Publication year:2019

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BOF-publication weight:2

CSS-citation score:2

Authors:International

Authors from:Higher Education

Accessibility:Closed