White Racial Identity and Reparations for Slavery

Abstract

In this study, we explore the relationship between racial identity and white Americans’ views on reparations to African Americans for slavery and the legacy of racial inequality it spawned. More specifically, we draw on data from an original 2016 survey to examine the association between various dimensions of White racial identity and support for a range of reparative measures targeting African Americans. The White racial identity dimensions we examine are prominence, salience, private self-regard, public self-regard, and verification. The views on reparations we analyze are an apology, a memorial, financial payments, special scholarships for university attendance, preferential hiring and promotion, fair treatment in jobs, and improving the economic and social conditions of black Americans. Consistent with prior work, we find that private self-regard (pride) is a key predictor of whites’ opposition to reparative policy targeting blacks. At the same time, we observe that public self-regard (respondents’ perception of others’ respect for whites) consistently predicts support for these same reparative policies. We draw on identity theory and recent scholarship on whiteness to explain these patterns. Our findings contribute to a growing body of work on how racial identity shapes white Americans’ racial policy attitudes.