Modern Racism Research Articles

The Structural Origins of Racial Inequality and Attitudes Toward Redistribution

AbstractA long line of research demonstrates that priming race undermines support for redistribution by activating negative racial stereotypes that tend to place blame for racial inequalities on individual members of minoritized groups and downplay the systemic causes of racial inequality. Here we suggest that information emphasizing the structural origins of racial disparities can disrupt these typical patterns and generate more positive attitudes toward redistributive policies because structural narratives run counter to individualistic racial stereotypes. To evaluate this possibility, we conduct a novel survey experiment that assesses how exposure to information about the structural underpinnings of racial inequality affects redistribution attitudes. Our analysis shows that support for redistributive policies increases after exposure to our treatment, with the effect most pronounced among White Republicans and those with high levels of racial resentment. These findings suggest that how we talk about racial inequality matters—focusing on structural accounts can bolster support for redistribution, especially among those groups least likely to support egalitarian policies overall.

Beyond George Floyd: Assessing sentiments on police fund reallocation and its intersection with race and racial resentment

Beyond George Floyd: Assessing sentiments on police fund reallocation and its intersection with race and racial resentment

Police leaders’ support for civilian oversight and implicit bias training: assessing the influence of perceptions of systemic racism

ABSTRACT This study uses a sample of police leaders from across the United States to explore the extent to which their support for civilian oversight boards and implicit bias training, as two aspects of police reform intended to improve racial injustices, relate to their belief that systemic racism is an issue in criminal justice. Presented in the context of symbolic racism theory, we assess how respondents’ willingness to acknowledge systemic racism in criminal justice relates to more supportive perceptions of civilian oversight boards and implicit bias training. These relationships remain significant even when controlling for other individual and agency-level factors that are known to affect perceptions of systemic racism and support for public policies designed to improve racial justice. This study discusses the need for additional research and consideration of how police officers’ racialized attitudes relate to their support for common reform recommendations.

A Democratic Dilemma: Racial Attitudes, Authoritarianism, and Whites’ Evaluation of Minority Legislators

The United States prides itself on its immigrant heritage and diversity, yet historically, minority advancements have faced opposition and violence. Little scholarship exists on how whites evaluate minority representation when represented by a minority in a legislative chamber. Prior research suggests that diversity may trigger negative racial and authoritarian attitudes among whites. Given recent political events in the United States and increases in the number of racial minorities running for and winning political office, we investigate white responses to minority representation in the United States Congress. Using the 2022 CES data, we examine how racial and authoritarian attitudes predict whites’ evaluations of Minority House Members. We expand beyond the Black and white binary to include whites’ evaluations of Hispanic legislators and broaden the study of racial attitudes beyond the Racial Resentment index. Our findings demonstrate that whites’ evaluations of minority legislators are linked to racial attitudes and endorsements of policy-based authoritarianism, varying by the representative’s race. White respondents who are in districts that are not represented by a Black or Hispanic legislator exemplify higher levels of racial resentment, disagree that whites have advantages, and agree that racial problems are rare. They also support more authoritarian policies than in districts represented by a Black Representative. White respondents’ approval of minority legislators relies on authoritarian policies and racial attitudes when the member of Congress is Black or Hispanic. In these districts, white respondents who disapprove of their Congressmember have more racial resentment, disagree that whites have advantages, and support more authoritarian policies than white respondents who approve of their Congressmember. This research provides insights into the complexities of minority political representation and its connection to policy-based authoritarianism, as well as its implications for American democracy.

Beyond party and the pocketbook: racial resentment, hostile sexism, and perceptions of corporate political activity

Abstract Recent controversies over “woke” businesses have challenged traditional partisan political alignments, leading to increased criticism on the right of corporate political activity. This paper explores how the public evaluates corporate political activity, focusing specifically on whether individuals believe corporations are doing too much (or too little) to advance social and political goals. We are especially interested in how social identities and pocketbook considerations shape perceptions of corporate political activities not explicitly tied to social issues. Does racial resentment, for example, influence perceptions of corporate political activity designed to increase worker wages or improve health care? Or are the effects limited to efforts to achieve racial equality? We find that racial resentment and hostile sexism have spillover effects, affecting perceptions of corporate political activity across issue areas. Partisan affiliation, political ideology, and personal pocketbook considerations, in contrast, play a more limited role. Previous research has demonstrated the effect of racial resentment and sexism on support for welfare policies. We add to this literature by showing that racist and sexist opposition extends to corporate political activities that might not be explicitly identified as socially progressive.

Beyond anti-urban sentiment: Rural consciousness and affect toward undocumented immigrants

Stricter immigration attitudes are associated with rurality. I argue that rural consciousness can help explain this tendency; those Americans higher in rural consciousness should theoretically see undocumented immigrants as a lower-status out-group unduly favored by decision-makers. Using ANES data, I find that colder feelings toward undocumented/illegal immigrants and harsher immigration policy attitudes significantly and positively associate with rural consciousness for rural/small-town residents. This is not moderated by partisanship or racial resentment, though the effect is stronger for non-whites. Further, exposure to an experimental treatment article sympathizing with rural way of life being disrespected – i.e., highlighting rural people being disrespected, which is an element of rural consciousness– results in significantly warmer feelings toward undocumented immigrants for rural/small-town respondents compared to those in the control condition. Conversely, exposure to an article about racial demographic changes in rural areas, or to a lagging rural economic recovery article, did not consistently or significantly affect the outcome variable. This study both confirms links between rural resentment or consciousness in similar contexts, while providing evidence that such a relationship is driven by feelings of in-group disrespect over economic or racial/ethnic threat.

White NIMBYism and diversity close to home

AbstractObjectiveWe use a survey experiment to study what explains white “not in my backyard” opposition (NIMBYism) to dense and affordable housing—racial threat, material self‐interest, or both.MethodsIn a survey experiment on white U.S. respondents, we vary the presence of a racial prime about black and Latinx community organizations and the proximity of the housing development to the subject's home. We then measure levels of support for a proposed hypothetical housing development, willingness to take political action in support of or opposition to the development, and support for a number of housing‐related and redistributive policies.ResultsWe find that a racial threat, a material self‐interest threat, and a combined racial and material self‐interest threat decrease support for a proposed housing development. These effects are moderated by racial resentment, ideology, and partisanship such that the effects of the treatments are primarily driven by Republicans, conservatives, and the highly racially resentful. These groups are more threatened than others by either Latinx and black people moving in, the development being in their own neighborhood, or both.ConclusionThese findings indicate that racial and material perceived threats play important and interlocking roles in white Americans’ resistance to multifamily housing being built. In a context where local political institutions empower an unrepresentative group of disproportionately white, economically privileged neighbors to mount opposition to dense housing, it is important to understand how white opposition to new dense housing is shaped by racial and financial concerns.

I paid into it with every paycheck I earned: How benefit type and beneficiary contributions shape attitudes about increasing or decreasing administrative burdens for social protections

AbstractAdministrative burdens are an important policy tool that has received growing scholarly attention. Burdens are consequential and serve as a contributor to incomplete program take‐up. However, our knowledge is limited on how program characteristics affect public attitudes toward burden‐increasing or decreasing policies. Based on our knowledge of public attitudes toward the welfare state, two such characteristics, whether benefits are “earned” and whether they come in the form of in‐kind services or cash payments, may also affect perceptions of administrative burdens. Using a nationally representative survey (N = 2904), we tested support for two administrative burdens (in‐person interviews and requirements for government‐issued documents) and two administrative easings (presumptive eligibility and express lane eligibility) for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in the United States. In general, we found no strong and consistent differences along both dimensions. However, Republicans, Conservatives, and those high in racial resentment consistently favored increasing burdens and opposed decreasing burdens with the opposite effect for Democrats, Liberals, and those low in racial resentment. Americans supported administrative burdens in the form of documentation requirements across all programs. However, they were open to burden decreases.

White Racial Resentment and Gender Attitudes: An Enduring Connection or an Artifact of the 2016 Election?

White Racial Resentment and Gender Attitudes: An Enduring Connection or an Artifact of the 2016 Election?

Political Effects of Exposure to Evidence about Racial Discrimination

ABSTRACT Evidence of discrimination against African Americans, based on high-quality field experiments, has become clearer, easier to communicate, and harder to counterargue. In two experimental studies, we use this development to empirically evaluate two effects of evidence about discrimination. First, we test whether exposure to this evidence about discrimination against African Americans influences Whites’ belief in discrimination and racial resentment, contributing to the scholarship on interventions to reduce prejudice. Second, we provide an experimental test to further explore observational studies showing that denial or downplaying of discrimination against African Americans influences vote choice in recent elections.

Camouflaged prejudice and the affirmation of skin colour differences: assessment of racism among Brazilian undergraduate dental students.

The negative oral health outcomes of disadvantaged racial groups have been well-documented, as racial disparity in oral health persists over time and in different locations1. However, it is important to note that skin colour has no biological meaning, and the observed differences can be physiological expressions of social injustice such as racism. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse the association between levels of modern racism (camouflaged prejudice and affirmation of differences) and sociodemographic characteristics of Brazilian dental students. Material and Method: An epidemiological cross-sectional online survey was conducted on 441 Brazilian undergraduate dental students using Google Forms. Participants were recruited via emails and social media, using the snowball technique. The Checklist for Reporting of Survey Studies (CROSS) was followed. The survey used sociodemographic variables, and the Brazilian version of the Modern Racism Scale (B-MRS), which measures the cognitive component of subtle racial attitudes. The scale assesses the central notion of disguised prejudice and has two domains: 'denial of prejudice' and 'affirmation of differences'. Participants' self-declared skin colour was categorized as "white" and "non-white" (black, brown, indigenous, yellow). Univariate analysis and Poisson regression with robust variance were applied. Results: Participants' mean age was 24.1 years (±5.4). Most participants were self-declared as white (54%) and 46% as non-white skin colour. Higher B-MRS overall-scores were observed in male (p=0.008) and non-white (p=0.002) students. B-MRS scores for the domain 'affirmation of differences' (representation of those who believe that whites and non-whites are truly different) were higher among male dental students (PR=1.138; CI 95%: 1.019-1.271) and those from low-income families (PR=1.306; CI 95%: 1.089-1.565). Scores for the domain 'denial of prejudice' (the idea that non-whites use their race to receive legal benefits) were higher among male dental students (PR=1.328; CI 95%: 1.129-1.562). Conclusions: In general, male non-white students had higher modern racism indicators. Male students from low-income families believed that whites and non-whites are truly different, accounting for the affirmation of difference in this sample.

Crafting True Religio in Early Christianity

Most studies of the religio-racial constellation begin with the medieval taxonomy of Christians, ‘Jews’, ‘pagans’ and ‘heretics’. Some scholars examine how this medieval taxonomy functioned as a system of dehumanization in the Middle Ages; others are more interested in how it has been adopted and adapted in modern racist taxonomies; and still others examine how religious images continue to influence the way non-white, non-European, non-Christian, and non-secular bodies are seen and treated today. What is lacking in the literature to date is an in-depth examination of how this fourfold taxonomy came to be. To understand how modern racialized taxonomies incorporated the earlier “religious” categories—a question that is beyond the scope of this article—we also need to better understand the genealogy of these religious categories, their scope, and their implication in processes of unequal power distribution. To that end, we must address the following questions: Where did the distinction between true and false religion come from; how did the figure of the pagan emerge; what about the Jews as anti-Christian? Rather than focusing on contemporary expressions of religio-racialization, or directing our attention to modern or even late medieval expressions of the religio-racial constellation, this article turns to the period of early Christianity when Christian apologists created the key religionized taxonomies that would shape the way Christians imagined, related to, and, in a later stage of history, governed Christianity’s others: the Jews, the heretics, and the pagans.

Effects or use?: Examining the over-time effects of media use and racial resentment

ABSTRACT In this paper, we examine the relationships between racial resentment and use of partisan media in the U.S. Our paper first examines the correlation between these two variables then tries to assess whether there are over-time relationships between them. Our paper first establishes that racial resentment is indeed associated with higher levels of using conservative media and lower levels of using liberal media. We then examine whether people’s level of racial resentment drives their use or avoidance of specific media content or if using these different outlets changes people’s levels of racial resentment. We find some evidence that racial resentment tends to be associated with avoiding liberal media outlets. By contrast, racial resentment does not predict changes in conservative media use. Moreover, we do not find that media use affects racial resentment.

Assessing burden tolerance amid the Medicaid Great Unwinding

AbstractThe pandemic era ushered in a period of policy adaptation in how states deliver programs. One aspect of this experimentation is how burdensome safety net administrative processes should be. Using national surveys taken before and after the end of the public health emergency, we offer evidence of how tolerant the public is about burdens when allowed to choose between discrete policy implementation options. First, we show that burden tolerance beliefs are durable and largely unmovable, staying relatively consistent over time, and unaffected by experimental frames. Second, while there is varying support for specific strategies, the public is broadly supportive of tools that reduce burdens in Medicaid. Third, we find consistent predictors of burden tolerance: conservative beliefs and racial resentment are associated with support for burdens, while empathy toward others, belief in burdens as a form of systemic racism, and low administrative capital make people less tolerant of burdens.

It’s possible to measure racism! Analysis of measures and scales of the racism construct

Purpose: This research aims to analyze the construction and validation of measures and scales of the racism construct through a systematic literature review. The purpose is to examine how these instruments are built based on statistical recommendations for scale development.Methodology: A systematic literature review followed well-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were collected from databases available on the Portal de Periódicos Capes, covering a period up to December 2023 (with no start date limitation). After removing duplicate articles and applying the defined filters, six studies were selected for the analysis of scale construction.Findings: Three specific scales were identified to measure and evaluate the racism construct: the Modern Racism Scale, the Symbolic Racism Scale, and the Ethno-Racial Attitudes Scale. Although there is a predominance of studies on the Modern Racism Scale, other instruments were excluded from the analysis corpus due to non-compliance with inclusion criteria, especially related to article availability.Originality: Among the 82 analyzed articles, those focused on measures and scales of the racism construct do not provide an analysis of the development of these instruments. This study brings to light an analysis of the construction and validation of these measures and scales.

Race differences in support for anti‐racism policies: Endorsements of anti‐black and anti‐white stereotypes

AbstractIntroductionSupport for anti‐racism policies such as mandatory diversity training and affirmative action varies by race. Research in the racial resentment and symbolic racism traditions focuses on whites’ endorsements of stereotypes that blame blacks for their unequal position in society, causing whites to be less supportive of anti‐racism policies. Systemic racism theory suggests an additional hypothesis: People who believe whites are not doing enough to dismantle the systemically racist system that disadvantages blacks and other groups should be more supportive of anti‐racism policies.MethodsWe examine both hypotheses using data from a national YouGov survey of 1125 U.S. adults gathered in 2021.ResultsRace differences in support for anti‐racism policies are accounted for by race differences in endorsements of both anti‐black and anti‐white stereotypes.ConclusionFuture studies of support for anti‐racism policies should consider the influence of both anti‐black and anti‐white stereotypes.

Beyond racial resentment: Systemic racism beliefs and public attitudes toward criminal justice institutions and reforms

AbstractIntroductionSystemic racism theory has become a central part of academic and public discussions about criminal justice institutions and reforms. Little, however, is known about the association between people's belief in the ubiquity of systemic racism and their attitudes toward criminal justice institutions and reforms.MethodsTo fill this gap, we examine the association between systemic racism beliefs and support for police, police reform, and the BLM movement using a national YouGov sample of 1125 U.S. adults.ResultsSystemic racism beliefs are associated with Americans’ attitudes toward all three outcomes, net of a wide range of controls, including negative experiences with police, political ideology, and most notably, racial resentment.ConclusionOur study provides compelling evidence that belief in systemic racism is an important driver of Americans’ support for police, police reforms, and BLM.

Racial resentment, sexism, and evaluations of Kamala Harris in the 2020 U.S. presidential election

AbstractObjectiveThis article examines the effect of racial attitudes and sexism on evaluations of Kamala Harris. It also compares the effect of these variables on evaluations of other Democratic politicians: Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton.MethodsData are taken from the 2020 American National Election Studies, using feeling thermometers for Harris, Biden, and Obama, and from the 2016 American National Election Studies for Clinton. Our primary independent variables are racial resentment and three measures of sexism: modern, hostile, and traditional sexism.ResultsRacial resentment, modern sexism, and traditional sexism exerted an effect on evaluations of Kamala Harris above and beyond other explanatory variables, including party identification and ideology. However, these effects did not differ considerably from those found for Biden, Obama, and Clinton.ConclusionsRacial resentment and sexism appear to be related to evaluations of any Democratic presidential or vice presidential nominee, reflecting how they have become salient in defining party identities. We speculate, however, that their effects might be even more visible for black women at the top of a presidential ticket, and provide major headwinds into which Kamala Harris may have to run when contemplating any future presidential candidacy of her own.

Saracens, Moors and Islam: was there a Muslim race in medieval Europe?

Against the view that antecedents to modern racism can be found in medieval Europe’s depictions of Moors, Saracens and the prophet Muhammad, this article demonstrates that representations of Muslims from the seventh to the fifteenth centuries were both respectful and resentful, lacking the kind of coherence necessary to show a pattern of racialisation. Rather than reflecting a structural continuity with the Orientalism that emerged in the nineteenth century, the representations that prevailed were the product of the power interests at play in specific historical and geographical contexts. Certainly, there was prejudice, xenophobia and ethnocentrism, sometimes taking forms that superficially resemble modern racisms. But only with the rise of various European powers as empires in the modern era did it become possible to ideologically and structurally racialise Muslims. Thus, ‘race’ should be seen as a modern development that accompanied the rise of capitalism and European colonialism.

Pop culture resentment: testing existing and alternative measures of white racial attitudes

ABSTRACT Understanding white Americans’ attitudes toward Black Americans is crucial in US public opinion. However, survey measurement of these attitudes is hampered by social desirability bias, low discriminant validity, and the potential for heightened demand characteristics and backlash. I propose a new measure: music genre preference. Consistent preference for genres historically and popularly linked to white culture over those linked to Black culture may partly reflect white Americans’ attitudes toward Black Americans. Using four online surveys comparing the performance of racial resentment, stereotype measures, and genre preference on social desirability, predictive and discriminant validity, and research awareness, I find that genre preference either outperforms or matches the established measures on these criteria. Genre preference thus provides a viable alternative for measuring white Americans’ attitudes toward Black Americans, and potentially other group attitudes in both the United States and other cultures. This also provides an example of sensitive question design using proxies that elicit attitudes without discomforting the survey taker or alerting them to the purpose of the study.