Is It Really Racism? The Origins of White Americans' Opposition to Race-Targeted Policies

Sears, David O.; Laar, Colette van; Carrillo, Mary; Kosterman, Rick

doi:10.4324/9780203505984-20

Cited by 129 publications

(177 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Whether the white families are conscious of this possible racism remains unknown. If this is the case, data from the current study reveal many consistencies with the theories of Jackman (1981), Sears et al (1997), McConahay (1982), Orfield and Eaton (1996), Saporito & Lareau (1999), and Saporito (2003).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

“…Durrheim and Dixon (2004) concurred that "old-fashioned" and symbolic racism have been shown to be correlated. Sears, Van Laar, Carrilo, and Kosterman (1997) and Sears and Henry (2003) discussed the idea of "old-fashioned racism" or racism that has not been replaced with general notions of equality. Specifically, Sears et al (1997) argued that progress toward racial equality is still inhibited by great resistance to change by whites.…”

Section: Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sears, Van Laar, Carrilo, and Kosterman (1997) and Sears and Henry (2003) discussed the idea of "old-fashioned racism" or racism that has not been replaced with general notions of equality. Specifically, Sears et al (1997) argued that progress toward racial equality is still inhibited by great resistance to change by whites. Caruthers (2005) discussed how the dangerous memories people hold about assimilation and Anglo conformity affect the construction of schooling and categorize children who are culturally diverse as "other.…”

Section: Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other scholars have noted that many white Americans support principles of equality but do not support policies necessary to implement equality (Sears et al, 1997). Tedin and Weiher (2004) noted that, for some time, Americans have granted in principle (author's emphasis) that public school integration is positive for everyone but that measures of public opinion on academic quality and racial diversity may have issues with social desirability.…”

Section: Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

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Barriers to Integration in the Mississippi Delta: Could Charter Schools Be the New Vehicle for Desegregation?

Eckes

2006

Anal Soc Iss & Public Policy

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revealed that white parents in Delta County chose not to send their students to the traditional public school because they perceived greater discipline problems, less challenging academics, and fewer extracurricular opportunities ("the barriers"). The black parents, however, were choosing not to send their children to the private academy because it did not, in fact, offer greater educational opportunity. Black parents contended that the three articulated barriers were actually euphemisms for racism. In this current case study, the researcher sought to learn whether a new high-performing charter school, where the three barriers were not present, would encourage racial integration in Delta County. Specifically, the new public charter school offered parents a third option in addition to the private academy and public school. Through interviews and observations, the current case study explored whether the barriers articulated by white parents in the earlier study were simply rhetoric. The current study found that white parents were still not choosing the charter school, even though no barriers were present.The Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision held that separate but equal schools are inherently unequal. Despite this ruling, many school districts failed to take action to desegregate. As a result, the Brown v. Board of Education II (1955) decision urged school districts to desegregate with all deliberate speed but,

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Barriers to Integration in the Mississippi Delta: Could Charter Schools Be the New Vehicle for Desegregation?

Eckes

2006

Anal Soc Iss & Public Policy

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“…Moralism has long been viewed as an important thread in the fabric of American political culture (Lipset 1990). Among white Americans, it has been shown to have a significant impact on anti-black attitudes (Sears et al 1997) and on responses to prominent black officials such as Clarence Thomas (Sapiro and Soss 1999). In addition, state-level evidence suggests that moralistic political cultures have an indirect, positive effect on death penalty sentencing rates (Norrander 2000).…”

Section: Core Values and Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Do White Americans Support the Death Penalty?

Soss

Langbein

Metelko

2003

The Journal of Politics

272

280

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This article explores the roots of white support for capital punishment in the United States. Our analysis addresses individual-level and contextual factors, paying particular attention to how racial attitudes and racial composition influence white support for capital punishment. Our findings suggest that white support hinges on a range of attitudes wider than prior research has indicated, including social and governmental trust and individualist and authoritarian values. Extending individual-level analyses, we also find that white responses to capital punishment are sensitive to local context. Perhaps most important, our results clarify the impact of race in two ways. First, racial prejudice emerges here as a comparatively strong predictor of white support for the death penalty. Second, black residential proximity functions to polarize white opinion along lines of racial attitude. As the black percentage of county residents rises, so too does the impact of racial prejudice on white support for capital punishment.

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Conceptions of national identity and opposition to bicultural policies in New Zealand: A comparison of majority and minority perspectives

Devos

Yogeeswaran

Milojev

et al. 2020

International Journal of Intercultural Relations

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Using a nationally representative sample, the present research tested whether conceptions of national identity differentially predicted attitudes toward bicultural policies among New Zealanders of European, Māori, Asian, and Pacific descent. A series of multi-group structural equation models revealed that among members of the majority group and all minority groups, endorsement of a civic conception of national identity (i.e., respecting political institutions and laws) was related to opposition to resource policies, but such a relationship was especially strong among the majority group. By contrast, endorsement of an ethnic conception of national identity (i.e., having Māori or European ancestry) was related to support for resource and symbolic policies among minority group members, but to opposition to the same policies among the majority group. The present work documents that belonging to a majority vs. minority group moderates the relations between conceptions of national identity (civic vs. ethnic) and support or opposition to specific bicultural policies. In addition, some elements of civic conceptions of national identity may legitimize inequalities rather than reduce them.

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Is It Really Racism? The Origins of White Americans' Opposition to Race-Targeted Policies

Abstract: We address the role of racial antagonism in whites' opposition to racially-targeted policies. The data come from four surveys selected for their unusually rich measurement of both policy preferences and other racial attitudes:

Cited by 129 publications

References 20 publications

Barriers to Integration in the Mississippi Delta: Could Charter Schools Be the New Vehicle for Desegregation?

Barriers to Integration in the Mississippi Delta: Could Charter Schools Be the New Vehicle for Desegregation?

Why Do White Americans Support the Death Penalty?

Conceptions of national identity and opposition to bicultural policies in New Zealand: A comparison of majority and minority perspectives

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