An Exploration of the Intersectional Manifestations of Demographic and Occupational Stereotypes

Stereotypes of individuals have been an important area of inquiry for nearly a century (e.g., Katz & Braly, 1933), and have significant impact on work outcomes such as hiring (Hall et al., 2015; Hoyt, 2012), employee relations (e.g., Kanter, 1977), and opportunities for advancement (Heilman, 2001; Rudman et al., 2012). However, much of the research has considered each stereotyped characteristic (e.g., age, gender, race, occupation) as independent, even though these attributes co-occur and often produce impressions that are unique from the component stereotyped attributes (Crenshaw, 1991; Ghavami & Peplau, 2013; McCall, 2005; Solanke, 2009). In this paper, we investigate how component attributes interact to form holistic stereotypes by inductively analyzing a unique set of qualitative data. The findings reveal a complex picture of stereotype interactions and combinations that extend the understanding of how stereotypes manifest. After presentation of the results, we discuss theoretical and practical implications of our findings, as well as directions for future research.