The role of the attribution process at the inter-group level (Deschamps,
1977; Hamiton, 1979; Hewstone and Jaspars, 1982a; Pettigrew, 1979) lies in
the analysis of how members of subordinate power groups explain their
inferior social positions and relative states of deprivation (low wages, poor
employment prospects, etc.). This application of attribution theory was
envisaged by Guimond and Simard (1979), who examined explanations
offered by English and French Canadians for their social positions. It was
found that English Canadians (the dominant ethnolinguistic group) tended
to blame French Canadians themselves for the latter's lower social position.
That is, they preferred individualistic causes for economic inequality. In
contrast, French Canadians (the subordinate collectivity) offered structural,
more social explanations for their inferior standing. Indeed, one regularly
witnesses such differential attributions in British and American allocation of
responsibility for the social positions of the middle and working classes, by
members of those categories. Given the salience of one's own dialect, and
the importance of ethnic and class membership, it seems very likely that
individual members of subordinate minorities may ascribe their failings to
their possession of a certain dialect, or to discrimination by others because of
this dialect. The process of ascribing one's failure to membership in the
"wrong" social group has been demonstrated by Dion and associates (e.g.
Dion et al., 1978).