Research shows that social norms strongly regulate the public expression of prejudice towards minority groups. Yet, it remains unclear whether these norms extend equally to all minorities. Against whom is hostility more socially acceptable, and who enforces anti-discrimination norms in everyday interactions? Drawing on a large-scale vignette experiment embedded in a representative survey in Germany, we examine what cultural sociologists term “recognition gaps”: disparities in the social valuation of minority groups that shape the perceived acceptability of their stigmatization. We theorize that linguistic stigmatization is more socially tolerated than racial or anti-LGBTQ hostility, and that religious stigmatization varies by group. Results from four interactional scenarios support these expectations and reveal a hierarchy: Blacks, and LGBTQ individuals are normatively protected, whereas Arabic speakers, Muslims, and refugees elicit weaker anti-discrimination responses. Norm enforcement is strongly moderated by social context (public versus private) and demographics, with younger and university-educated individuals most likely to intervene.

About the speaker:

Amalia Álvarez-Benjumea is a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Institute of Public Goods and Policies (IPP-CSIC) in Madrid. She specializes in social norms, prejudice, political behavior, and online discourse, combining experimental and survey-based methods. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Cologne and previously held research positions at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods and the University of Mannheim. Her work has appeared in leading journals, including American Sociological Review, European Sociological Review, PNAS, British Journal of Political Science, and European Economic Review. Her 2023 article on hidden xenophobic opinions received the European Academy of Sociology Best Article Prize.

📅 Date: Thursday, December 11, 2025

🕑 Time: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

📍 Venue: CJT-9.29

🗣️ Language: English

🔗 Register here: https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspx?guest=Y&ueid=104186