Awareness programs and change in taste-based caste prejudice

Becker's theory of taste-based discrimination predicts that relative employment of the discriminated social group will improve if there is a decrease in the level of prejudice for the marginally discriminating employer. In this paper we experimentally test this prediction offered by Garry Becker in his seminal work on taste based discrimination, in the context of caste in India, with management students (potential employers in the near future) as subjects. First, we measure caste prejudice and show that awareness through a TV social program reduces implicit prejudice against the lower caste and the reduction is sustained over time. Second, we find that the treatment reduces the prejudice levels of those in the left tail of the prejudice distribution - the group which can potentially affect real outcomes as predicted by the theory. And finally, a larger share of the treatment group subjects exhibit favorable opinion about reservation in jobs for the lower caste.

贝克尔的口味型歧视理论（taste-based discrimination）预测：若边际歧视性雇主的偏见水平下降，受歧视社会群体的相对就业状况将得到改善。本文以印度种姓制度为研究场景，以未来将成为雇主的管理学专业学生作为实验被试，对加里·贝克尔在其关于口味型歧视的开创性研究中提出的这一理论预测开展实验检验。其一，我们对种姓偏见进行了测量，结果显示，通过电视社会节目开展的认知干预可降低对低种姓群体的内隐偏见，且该减效效应具有长期持续性。其二，我们发现实验处理能够降低偏见分布左尾群体的偏见水平——根据该理论预测，这一群体正是可能对真实就业结果产生影响的关键群体。其三，实验组中有更大比例的被试对低种姓群体的工作岗位预留政策持赞同态度。