How racial cues affect support for American racial hierarchy among African Americans and Whites

Abstract

Though racial hierarchy has been critical to American political development and continues to color much of American politics, little is known about the extent to which political factors mitigate or exacerbate support for the racial status quo. Using insights gained from research on system justification and racial priming, this paper examines how the use of negative racial cues by political elites affects support for American racial hierarchy among African Americans and Whites, where racial hierarchy is assessed both explicitly (with survey items) and implicitly (with the Implicit Association Test). Results from two original experiments suggest that the effect of elite racial cues on support for racial hierarchy is moderated by political ideology, and the strength and direction of the effects varies by racial group and the type of support for racial hierarchy – explicit or implicit – being examined.