The owner of a car dealership refuses to hire a female applicant not because he feels women are incompetent, but because he fears that customers will be less likely to buy a car from a woman. according to merton's typology, the owner is being a(n)

Reluctant liberal is the correct answer.

A reluctant liberal, also known as fair-weather liberal, is defined as a person who discriminates even though he/she does not have personal prejudice. When the owner of the car dealership is not prejudiced, but ends up discriminating because there's social pressure that makes him do so, he is acting as a reluctant liberal.  

reluctant liberal.

Explanation:

Robert K. Merton (1910-2003) was a sociologist who developed a typology of how people beliefs and actions interact with each other given their understanding of the culture and institutions in which they move in. When applied to the study of discrimination, this typology comes up with four different types:

1. All-weather liberal - a person who is not prejudiced and does not discriminate.

2. All-weather bigot - a person who is prejudiced and discriminates.

3. A reluctant liberal - a person who is not prejudiced but who will discriminate if socially pressured to do so.

4. A timid bigot - a person who is prejudiced but who will not discriminate if socially pressured to do so.

In our case, the owner of the car dealership is clearly a reluctant liberal: he is not prejudiced, but it's still discriminating women. This is because while he does not feel women are incompetent (he doesn't discriminate), he feels a car saleswoman is still not culturally accepted, so based on his understanding of the culture of the time, he prefers not to hire a female for the part (he is discriminating out of social pressure).

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the answer your looking for is c. : )