Understanding the Role of Racism in Contemporary US Public Opinion

Katherine Cramer

doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-060418-042842

Abstract

In the contemporary context, it is inescapable that racism is a factor in US public opinion. When scholars take stock of the way we typically measure and conceptualize racism, we find reason to reconceptualize the racial resentment scale as a measure of perceptions of the reasons for political inequality. We also see reason to move beyond thinking of racism as an attitude, toward conceptualizing it as a perspective. In addition, we see reason to pay closer attention to the role of elites in creating and perpetuating a role for racism in the way people think about public affairs. The study of racism is evolving in parallel with the broader public discussion: toward a recognition of the complex and fundamental ways it is woven into US culture and political life.

Highlights

Racism is a factor in US public opinion
When we examine its most common measurement, the racial resentment scale, in light of contemporary events such as the elections of Barack Obama and Trump to the presidency, we find reason to reconceptualize this scale as a measure of perceptions of the reasons for political inequality
Much of this work has looked at feedback effects among black Americans, but racism studies could build on this heightened attention to institutionalized discrimination and its effects on the political realm to scrutinize the roots of prejudice among whites and members of other racial groups, and the effects on attitudes and behaviors of policy changes that attempt to reduce racial inequality

Summary

Introduction

Racism is a factor in US public opinion. To some, that is obvious; to others, it is controversial and a matter of definition. Much as rhetoric heightens the role of racial resentment in attitudes toward policies like welfare and social security (Winter 2006, 2008), the presence of an African-American candidate for president heightened the role of explicit racism in public opinion.

Results

Conclusion