Chapter 11: Effects of Stereotypes, Intergroup Bias, and Cultural Racism on Unfair Discrimination against Native Americans

Native people in the U.S. and the Americas experience numerous problems gaining and maintaining employment, and their employment problems exacerbate difficulties associated with poverty, food and housing insecurity, alcohol or drug addiction, health, and unfair discrimination (Reclaiming Native American Truth, 2018). As a result, the primary purposes of this chapter were to: (a) present a model of the factors thought to affect unfair discrimination against Native Americans in organizations, (b) review the existing theory and research on these issues, (c) offer hypotheses to facilitate research on the topic, and (d) present practical strategies that might be used to decrease unfair discrimination and enhance the inclusion of Native Americans in organizations. Our model was based in theories of social cognition, social categorization, and cultural racism. As a result, it predicts that unfounded negative stereotypes about Natives are important determinants of employment decisions about them. Similarly, social categorization theory predicts that dominant group members (e.g., European Americans) denigrate outgroup members to boost their own self esteem (Turner et al., 1987). Further, the theory of cultural racism argues that dominant groups in a society (e.g., European Americans in the United States) determine the values, standards, norms, and when a nondominant group’s (e.g., Natives) cultural values do not live up to these cultural standards, they are viewed as substandard and experience unfair discrimination in organizations. Hypotheses to guide research, and implications for future research and practice are considered.

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