Discrimination and Group Identities

Project Information

DISGRID

Grant agreement ID: 101024200

DOI

10.3030/101024200

Project terminated on 31 August 2023

EC signature date 24 March 2021

Start date 1 June 2021

End date 29 November 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 175 572,48

EU contribution

€ 175 572,48

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DISGRID (Discrimination and Group Identities)

Reporting period: 2021-06-01 to 2023-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Opportunities in life in Europe de facto hinge on group memberships that de jure should not matter for individual outcomes – prompting EC president Ursula von der Leyen to press for renewed efforts to answer the question: “Why do racism and discrimination endure in our societies?”

Located at the Department of Microeconomics and Public Economics at Maastricht University and in collaboration with the University of Applied Police Sciences Saxony-Anhalt in Germany, this project contributes to answering two research questions:

i) Which types of group identities more vs. less likely induce discriminatory behavior? and

ii) Which types of persons are more vs. less likely to adopt such group identities?

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In WP1 a comprehensive meta-analysis of economic experiments studying discrimination is conducted. It focuses on the strengths of different types of group identities and on individual heterogeneity in their adoption. Doing so, this meta-study provides key empirical insights at an unprecedented level of detail into the mechanics of discriminatory group identities and their interaction with individual levels of readiness to adopt them - a trait labeled 'groupiness'.

In WP2 an experimental study was conducted to dissect ‘groupiness’ by investigating a) if long-term exposure to environments of stronger vs. weaker group identities has an impact on individual levels of ‘groupiness’ and b) whether individuals who have a higher readiness to follow rules in general are also more likely to show ‘groupy’ behavior.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The insights gained in WPs 1 and 2 inform substantially improved theoretical models of group identity based discriminatory behavior and will be also instrumental for practitioners aiming at changing group identities for the better. In particular, the results obtained can be exploited directly for informing and potentially improving the professional training of young women and men striving to become law enforcement officers.

Two police officers walking through fog and talking (image provided by SHPOKS via pixabay.com)