Orientation de la dominance sociale et attitudes vis-à-vis des personnes en situation de handicap au Cameroun

Abstract

This thesis defends the idea that the position occupied by individuals in a hierarchical structure has a relationship with their attitudes towards people with disabilities. She wonders about the relationship that exists between the factors of SDO-7 (The Pro-counter social dominance trait; the Pro- counter anti-egalitarianism trait) and affects, cognitions and behaviors towards the person in a wheelchair, imbecile and insane. This orientation was recently proposed, within the framework of social dominance theory (Sidanus and Pratto, 1999), as a central variable in the explanation of certain attitudes. It is defined as the degree to which individuals’ desire and support of social inequalities and relations of domination between social groups. After having critically examined and empirically validated this theory, this study set out to verify the implications of the relationship between SDO-7 and attitudes towards PWD, using a sample of 600 participants chosen in stratified random sampling technique. Depending on the situations of disability (physical, intellectual and mental) best known in the Cameroonian context, the respondents were divided into 200 individuals per group before submitting to them the test questionnaire with a double measurement scale : "the measurement scale SDO-7 by Sidanuis & Pratto (2015)”, and “the Multidimensional Attitudes Scale Toward Persons with Disabilities (MAS)”, by Findler & al., (2007). The data collected was processed using SPSS software. The synthesis of the results obtained indicates that the pro trait almost automatically generates tension, stress, bad feelings, and withdrawal, when some individuals are in the presence of a person in a wheelchair, imbecile or insane. In other words, this trait accentuates negative attitudes towards people with disabilities. Contrarily, the counter trait significantly attenuates negative effects, thoughts and behaviors towards people with physical, intellectual and mental disabilities. More so, people who generally have a favorable behavioral tendency for equality between social groups are those who, when involved in an interrelationship with a person with a disability, feel, among other things, pity, empathy, enjoy his/her company and converse with him/her without fear. To this effect, we can conclude that the thesis of the part is verified.