Abstract
This study draws on identity theory to examine the relationship between the presence of public Confederate monuments and white racial identity. Data for this study come from a novel census of Confederate monuments collected by the Southern Poverty Law Center and a nationally representative sample of white Americans from the American Mosaic Project (n = 986). Results show that having a greater number of Confederate monuments in the state of residence, but not the county of residence, is associated with increased likelihood of identifying white racial identity as very important. We argue that public Confederate monuments are related to the prominence of whiteness for white Americans because monuments represent observable cues of white supremacy and state-sanctioned black-white boundary maintenance. Our findings extend identity theory by demonstrating that cultural artifacts can factor into the strength of a social identity.KeywordsConfederate monumentsWhite racial identityRacial identity prominenceWhitenessWhite supremacyRacial boundary maintenanceSocial identity
Published Version
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