Download Attitudes

Racial Attitudes
Concepts, Trends, and
Explanations
Prejudice
• Definition
• Components
• Determinants
• New Research on Racial Attitudes
Questions
• How would you define prejudice?
• What are some parts of prejudice?
• What factors are associated with being
prejudiced?
Definition
A negative attitude toward an entire
group of people, such as a racial or
ethnic minority.
• Discrimination: behavior
• Homophobia
• Anti-Semitism
Components
• Cognitive
• Conative
• Affective (Emotions: difficult to study)
Cognitive Elements:
Stereotyping
• College Student Perceptions:
• Thought Black Americans were lazy:
1932
1982
1993
75%
18%
5%
Thought Jewish Americans were shrewd
79%
15%
---
Devine and Elliot
• It is important to distinguish between
stereotypes and personal beliefs
• Personal beliefs have improved
• Stereotypes persist
• Stereotypes can come into play even
when they conflict with personal beliefs
Conative Elements: Social
Distance
• Range: 1(marriage) - 7(exclude from
U.S.)
Group
Irish
Jews
Turks
1926
1.30
2.39
3.30
Year
1966
1.40
1.97
2.48
1991
1.30
1.84
2.23
Some Examples of
Prejudice(with thanks to the
SPLC)
• Madison - Feb. 2, 2001
Ying Vang, 23, Kao Vue, 24, and John Yang, 20,
were convicted of battery as a hate crime for
beating a black student at a local university
• Madison - Feb. 26, 2001
A swastika, the word “die,” followed by a racial
slur and the word “Jew,” were written at a local
elementary school and targeted a fourth-grade
teacher.
Examples, continued
• Madison - - Sept. 1, 2001
Two white men allegedly used racist epithets and
assaulted two Asian students. Adam Coplien, and
Carl Elam-Bishop, both 21, were charged with
substantial battery with intentional bodily harm,
one felony and one misdemeanor charge of a hate
crime and battery in connection with the incident
•
Examples, continued
• Madison - Nov. 6, 2001
Jeremy A. Giese, 21, was charged with a hate crime,
criminal damage to property and disorderly
conduct for allegedly smashing the window of a
bar because Giese saw two men who appeared to
be of Middle Eastern descent.
Determinants Of Prejudice
Individual Attributes
• Sex
• Education
• Age(Cohort Effect)
• Income
Structural Factors
• Region
• Rural/Urban
• Size of Group
• Intensity of
Competition
• Contact
– Common Goal
– Equal Status
New Research on Racial
Attitudes
James Kluegel, “Trends in Whites’
Explanations of the black/white gap in
SES,” American Sociological Review
55 (1990): 512-526.
• Paradox in Racial Attitudes
• Explanations
Black Perceptions
Jaynes, Gerald D. and Robin M. Williams,
Jr. (Eds), A Common Destiny: Blacks
and American Society. Washington,
D.C.: National Academy Press, 1989.
• increasing skepticism
• distrust
• frustration
A Comprehensive Review
• Schuman, Howard, Charlotte Steeh,
Lawrence Bobo, and Maria Krysan.
1997. Racial Attitudes in America:
Trends and Interpretations. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press.
– The authoritative guide to racial attitudes;
thorough, careful, and complete.
Trends in White Attitudes
1. Strong and steady trend toward
endorsement of equal treatment.
2. No trend in endorsement of policies to
achieve equal treatment if they conflict
with other values (e.g., neighborhood
schools or merit).
3. Social distance varies depending on
proportions of out-group involved.
White Trends, cont.
4. The majority of whites do not believe
that discrimination is still a major factor.
5. Support for principles of equality varies
directly with income, while support for
affirmative action varies inversely with
income.
6. Education continues to have its
traditional liberalizing effects.
Black Trends
1. Blacks feel discrimination has
declined, but still see it as a major
problem in American society.
2. Blacks are much more supportive of
affirmative action.
3. Blacks and whites agree in seeing the
lack of educational opportunities as a
barrier.
Black Trends, Cont.
4. Among blacks, the perception that
current discrimination is a problem
increases with education.
5. Since middle class blacks are subject
to extra police attention, occasional
rude treatment, and occasional insults
based on race, they sometimes have
trouble distinguishing between racial
discrimination and plain rude behavior.
Conclusions
1. Blacks and whites agree on the
principle of racial equality.
2. Blacks and whites disagree on the
major causes of inequality.
3. We know very little about how groups
other than blacks and whites view these
issues.