This project analyses the indirect expressions of racism, within the framework of the anti-prejudice and anti-discrimination norms and within the framework of democratic values. The project also addresses the social and psychological factors that legitimate prejudice and discrimination. As indirect expressions of prejudice and discrimination the following processes are analysed:
- the process of despersonalisation (Vala, Lima and Pereira, submitted), the process through which racialized people are seen as being members of a group and not as autonomous individuals.
- the process of hetero-etnicization (Vala, Lopes, Lima and Brito, 2002; Vala, Lopes and Lima, 2009; Vala, Pereira & Costa-Lopes, 2009), the process through which a different culture is attributed to minority groups and is implicitly defined as inferior.
The legitimating factors of discrimination and opposition towards immigration are based on the following studies:
- the role of perception of justice and belief in a just world (Aguiar, Vala, Correia and Pereira, 2008)
- the role of realistic and symbolic threat (Pereira, 2007; Pereira, Vala & Leyens, 2009).
As predictors of the expression of prejudice and opposition towards immigration, the role of meritocratic and egalitarian norms has been studied, and of the underlying values, as well as the role of realistic and symbolic threat perceptions (Vala, Ramos e Pereira, 2006; Ramos, Vala & Pereira, 2008; Ramos & Vala, in press).
