Racism and Affirmative Action: Evidence for the Justified Discrimination Model

ABSTRACT The Justified Discrimination Model postulates that the use of justifications exerts an important role in understanding discrimination. In this study, we tested the JDM in the context of discrimination against students who were admitted to the university through affirmative action policies. 182 college students, mostly women, who had not been admitted through affirmative action policies participated in the study. Participants completed measures of prejudice, discrimination, and perception of realistic threat and were assigned to one of three experimental conditions: affirmative action appreciation, realistic threat, and control. It was observed that the perception of realistic threat mediated the association between prejudice and discrimination independently of the experimental condition, which indicates the explanatory potential of the JDM for understanding discrimination against affirmative action beneficiaries.