"So you're just a normal person. Just like me?" Difference evasion in managing an advantaged identity and legitimising inequality

Western liberal societies claim to value equality and diversity, yet they remain increasingly unequal and resistant to difference. In these societies, members of advantaged groups often convey an egalitarian standpoint toward disadvantaged group members by emphasising their individuality and fundamental sameness (e.g., “I don’t see colour/sexual orientation/gender identity, I see people”). In downplaying people’s disadvantaged group memberships and thereby evading difference, advantaged group members may implicitly obscure markers of intergroup inequality, blur their own advantaged status, and legitimise structural inequality in turn. This dissertation explores how such crossroads between people’s equalising outlooks and rising inequality unfolds, investigating thus when and how evading difference prevents advantaged group members from developing a structural understanding of inequality and, in turn, enables them to blur their dominance. Using qualitative interviews, quantitative surveys, and experiments, I addressed this question in two intergroup settings where equalising outlooks have taken deep root in the Netherlands: (1) the ethno-racial intergroup context and (2) the sexual orientation and gender identity intergroup context. The findings seek to deepen understanding of how people who evade difference in managing cultural diversity can instead develop structural views of inequality and inform policies that foster such structural views across society.