Majority group members’ response to social change issues: the implications for diversity policy support

Abstract

The current study examines how majority group members react to social change in terms of ethnic and gender equality, and detects specific factors that influence majority group members to engage in and support diversity policies. To do this, it considers responses in terms of emotions and heart rate measures. Guided by literature on the influence that emotions can have in transforming behavioural intention, we study how frames of privilege awareness and the perception of social stability interact with emotional responses. Furthermore, it utilises these frames and theorical knowledge to investigate their relation with diversity policy support intentions explained by the report of negative emotions. 219 white men were asked to respond to these frames while being recorded and to engage in a writing and speaking task where heart rate was measured. The results of the study show that privilege listing is linked with higher negative emotional responses. In addition, privilege listing predicts higher behavioural intentions to support diversity policies, and this effect is mediated by negative emotions. The findings of this study provide potential insight into the importance of managing diversity policies and their implications, as well as concrete determinants for white men’s behavioural engagement in social change.