Racial Attitudes among Whites, Blacks, Latinos, and Asian Americans

Abstract

America's increasing racial diversity is coupled with the growing complexity of its residents' racial attitudes. While racial and ethnic identity in the country has always been a fluid and contested phenomenon, the growing number of Latinos and Asian Americans and the increasing integration of American society subject Americans' racial perceptions to a wider set of influences than ever before. There are three unresolved questions regarding racial identity in contemporary America, the first of which is whether whites have consistent attitudes toward all minority groups, or whether they view blacks, Latinos, and Asians in systematically different ways. The second is whether minorities' racial attitudes are categorically different than those of whites, and the third is how racial attitudes among Latinos and Asian Americans are affected by the diversity of their populations. This chapter compares racial attitudes among whites, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans. It shows that whites exhibit similar racial biases toward all minority groups and with few significant differences in how they view Latinos and Asians compared with how they view African Americans.