White privilege, white grievance, and the limitations of white antiracism

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the Trump and Black Lives Matter eras, many of the trends observed by theorists of colorblind racism have reversed, making whiteness newly visible to white Americans. This new white awareness of whiteness has emerged through divergent frames of white grievance and white privilege. In this article, we use a survey experiment to examine the effects of these frames on white antiracism, or opposition to racist institutions and beliefs. Results indicate that neither frame is able to significantly motivate white antiracism. These results suggest that the newly open discussions of white privilege by white Americans might not translate into the kinds of deeper behavioral and attitudinal changes for which racial justice advocates have hoped. However, the white grievance frame, which could be expected to elicit a backlash against racial progressivism, did not elicit significantly lower levels of antiracism, either. These null findings have important implications for the empirical and theoretical study of whiteness, the possibilities for and limitations of white antiracism, and white solidarity with racially minoritized groups. Further, this study takes an innovative approach by empirically testing insights from political theory, contributing to the study of race and politics by bridging disciplinary and methodological divides.