A FRAMEWORK FOR THE ATTRIBUTIONS OF IDEOLOGY AND MOTIVATION FROM IDENTITY SAFETY EFFORTS

This chapter examines how privileged group members attempt to signal identity safety (i.e., that one’s marginalized identities are valued and respected) to marginalized group members in interpersonal interactions and broad environments (e.g., classroom, workplace) and how marginalized group members perceive these identity safety efforts, including when privileged group members’ identity safety signals actually facilitate felt identity safety for marginalized groups. We highlight three common approaches privileged group members and organizations utilize to signal identity safety for marginalized groups (identity safety cues, norms of egalitarianism, and interpersonal claims of allyship) and consider why these signals are implemented and if they are effective at promoting identity safety for members of marginalized groups. Next, we propose an integrative theoretical framework elucidating when such identity safety efforts are effective at creating felt identity safety for marginalized group members. By integrating research on attribution theories and lay theories, we demonstrate how contextual factors shape perceived motives of identity safety efforts and how individual beliefs about the ways prejudice operates impact who experiences identity safety from these efforts. Our framework seeks to capture the ways the situation and person interact to promote (or not promote) identity safety for marginalized group members. Lastly, this chapter reviews implications for how people and places can most effectively cultivate interactions and environments that promote identity safety for marginalized group members.