The Changing Face of Racism

Abstract

Chapter 2 begins by surveying the literature on white racial prejudice and voting behavior. It shows that over the four presidential elections from 2004 to 2016, white hostility toward African Americans, Latinx immigrants, and Muslims became increasingly intertwined and formed the basis for what is defined here as a contemporary form of ethnocentrism as expressed in white outgroup hostility. The chapter confirms the results of other studies that have shown that while the effect of outgroup hostility on vote choice greatly increased in 2016, the level of outgroup hostility actually declined between 2012 and 2016. Therefore, to properly understand the political mainstreaming of racism over the 2010s, the chapter argues that one must not only consider the evolution of whites’ racial attitudes but also examine the processes by which outgroup hostility is translated into political participation. Chapter 2 introduces a theoretical framework that combines insights from social identity theory to understand changes in whites’ racial attitudes with theories of political participation originating from the social movement literature. The framework thus emphasizes the highly contingent nature of the relationship between white racial consciousness, outgroup hostility, and political mobilization. Specifically, the chapter outlines a model of the process by which racialized political narratives help activate a politicized white consciousness that leads to anger, expressed though outgroup hostility, and thus serves as the catalyst for political mobilization.