What measurements do sociologist use to calculate prejudice?
http://www.jiskha.com/search/search.cgi?query=calculate+prejudice
http://education.answerbox.net/education-search-sociologist-396545359.htm
P.S. Here's a wonderful paper on the subject from Harvard University. It's a PDF file to download:
www.wjh.harvard.edu/~dcarney/DRCarney.with.ident.info.
Sra
Sociologists use various measurements to calculate prejudice. One commonly used measurement is called the Bogardus Social Distance Scale, which was developed by Emory Bogardus in the 1920s. This scale assesses individuals' willingness to have social interactions with members of different social or ethnic groups.
To use the Bogardus Social Distance Scale, researchers typically ask participants to rate their willingness to engage in different types of social interactions (such as having them as neighbors, working with them, or marrying into their family) with members of various groups. The scale assigns numerical values to these responses, which are then used to calculate the overall level of social distance or prejudice towards specific groups.
Another commonly used measurement is the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The IAT measures implicit biases by assessing the speed and accuracy of participants' responses to different combinations of social groups and positive/negative attributes. This test is designed to measure unconscious or automatic biases that individuals may not be aware of.
Other measurements of prejudice include self-report questionnaires, direct observation of behavior, and content analysis of media or written materials. Self-report questionnaires involve individuals answering questions about their attitudes, beliefs, and stereotypes towards different groups. Direct observation involves observing individuals' actual behavior and interactions with members of different groups. Content analysis involves analyzing media or written materials to assess the presence of stereotypes or biased portrayals of certain groups.
It is worth noting that measuring prejudice is a complex task, and no single measurement can capture the entirety of this multi-dimensional concept. Therefore, sociologists often use a combination of these measurements to gain a more comprehensive understanding of prejudice.