Can you describe measurements sociologists use to calculate prejudice.?
The Bogardus Scale is the earlier measurement method. It came about it 1925 when scientists were trying to figure out how to measure prejudice. Emory Bogardus pinoeered its development, which included a 7-point scale measuring the person’s response and interaction with other races.
The scale is still in use today to evaluate levels of racial prejudice.
I’m not exactly sure how sociologist calculate prejudice given that it is an individual level construct and it seems that sociology focuses more on a macro level. That said, social psychology has some “racism” instruments that are basically Likert scales that the respondent completes. Some of the instruments that focus on the possibility that respondents may try to conceal their biases ask an exhaustive amount of questions with the intention that the respondents’ real answers will eventually reveal themselves. A growing number of prejudice researchers are using the IAT (implicit-association-test) to measure prejudice, and is growing in use by HR screeners with some controversy. It is immensely difficult for a subject to game this test, even with scores of repeated attempts, so the results are “honest”. The question is what exactly do the results suggest. Cheers!
