Research Seminar at Department of Public Policy, TAU

Wednesday 16.3.2022 | 11:00 | Room 527, Naftali Building, TAU

Speaker: Dr. Nadine Knab (postdoctoral fellow at the Conflict Resolution lab)

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? Helping Relations Between Advantaged and Disadvantaged Groups

Abstract
Do people who help refugees have a similar underlying motivation as people who show discrimination? Helping as a concept inherently entails unequal power relations, as the help provider has resources that the help recipient does not have. Thus, we argue that helping, not unlike discrimination, can lead to a maintenance of power relations, especially when helping is offered in a dependency-oriented manner. We propose that norms to help refugees (in one’s social environment and on a country-level) impact which of these seemingly different action tendencies is shown. Results of this research project have implications for the implementation of initiatives to help disadvantaged groups in ways that can increase social equality.