The Role of Intraminority Relations in Perceptions of Cultural Appropriation

Abstract

Adopting the customs of outgroup cultures (e.g., cultural appropriation) is controversial. Across six experiments (N = 2,069 Black Americans), we examined perceptions of cultural appropriation from the perspective of Black Americans, particularly focusing on the identity of the appropriator and its implications for theoretical understandings of appropriation. Participants expressed more negative emotion and considered appropriation of their cultural practices less acceptable than comparable behaviors that were not appropriative (Studies A1-A3). However, participants perceived White appropriators more negatively than Latine (but not Asian) appropriators, ultimately suggesting that negative perceptions of appropriation do not merely stem from concerns about preserving rigid ingroup-outgroup boundaries. We originally predicted that shared oppression experiences would be key to different responses to appropriation. Instead, our findings most strongly supported the notion that differences in judgments of appropriation by different cultural groups is primarily tied to perceptions of similarity (or difference) across groups—rather than oppression similarity itself. For example, when Asian Americans and Black Americans were framed as part of a common ingroup, Black American participants expressed less negativity toward Asian Americans’ appropriative acts. These findings suggest that perceived similarities or shared experiences shape the likelihood of welcoming outgroups into one’s cultural practices. More broadly, they suggest that the construction of identities is key to perceptions of appropriation, even independent from the way in which people appropriate.