Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

What predicts perceived discrimination among white Americans? Findings from two nationally representative studies

What predicts perceived discrimination among white Americans? Findings from two nationally... Many national or racial majority groups increasingly perceive discrimination against their group, despite objective indicators of advantage. The present studies simultaneously test three individual‐level explanations of perceived discrimination among White Americans: system legitimizing beliefs, economic precarity, and group interest, in addition to corresponding predictors at the context (state) level. Using multilevel analysis, we analyzed nationally‐representative data from the 2016 American National Election Survey (N = 2631)—an election period marked by discourse about majority group grievances. Results showed that, at the individual level, system‐legitimizing beliefs (symbolic racism, conservatism, realistic, and symbolic threat) predicted perceived discrimination among Whites, as did objective (income) and subjective (perceived financial insecurity) economic precarity. Conversely, group interest (indicated by White racial identification) was not a significant predictor. At the state level, support for the Republican candidate also predicted perceived discrimination. These findings replicated with data from the 2012 American National Election Survey (N = 3261). We discuss the implications of White Americans’ discrimination claims in the current socio‐political climate. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy Wiley

What predicts perceived discrimination among white Americans? Findings from two nationally representative studies

Download PDF
28 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/wiley/what-predicts-perceived-discrimination-among-white-americans-findings-UtDekZ6zmn
Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2023 The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.
ISSN
1529-7489
eISSN
1530-2415
DOI
10.1111/asap.12339
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Many national or racial majority groups increasingly perceive discrimination against their group, despite objective indicators of advantage. The present studies simultaneously test three individual‐level explanations of perceived discrimination among White Americans: system legitimizing beliefs, economic precarity, and group interest, in addition to corresponding predictors at the context (state) level. Using multilevel analysis, we analyzed nationally‐representative data from the 2016 American National Election Survey (N = 2631)—an election period marked by discourse about majority group grievances. Results showed that, at the individual level, system‐legitimizing beliefs (symbolic racism, conservatism, realistic, and symbolic threat) predicted perceived discrimination among Whites, as did objective (income) and subjective (perceived financial insecurity) economic precarity. Conversely, group interest (indicated by White racial identification) was not a significant predictor. At the state level, support for the Republican candidate also predicted perceived discrimination. These findings replicated with data from the 2012 American National Election Survey (N = 3261). We discuss the implications of White Americans’ discrimination claims in the current socio‐political climate.

Journal

Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy – Wiley

Published: Apr 1, 2023

Keywords: economic precarity; legitimizing beliefs; perceived discrimination; White Americans; White identity; Trump support

References

  • The association between anti‐immigrant policies and perceived discrimination among Latinos in the US: a multilevel analysis
    Almeida, J.; Biello, K.; Pedraza, F.; Wintner, S.; Viruell‐Fuentes, E.
  • ANES 2016 Time Series Study: Inter‐university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2017‐09‐19
  • ANES 2012 Time Series Study: Inter‐university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2016‐05‐17
  • System justification and perceptions of group‐based discrimination: investigating the temporal order of the ideologically motivated minimization (or exaggeration) of discrimination across low‐ and high‐status groups
    Bahamondes, J.; Sibley, C.G.; Osborne, D.
  • Race, interests, and belief about affirmative action
    Bobo, L.
  • Justice‐based opposition to social policies: is it genuine?
    Bobocel, D.; Son Hing, L.; Davey, L.; Stanley, D.; Zanna, M.
  • The functions of symbolic racism
    Brandt, M.; Reyna, C.
  • Obama's economy: conditional racial spillover into evaluations of the economy
    Chen, P.; Mohanty, R.
  • Ideology and discontent
    Converse, P.
  • Information about the US racial demographic shift triggers concerns about anti‐White discrimination among the prospective White “minority”
    Craig, M.; Richeson, J.
  • Majority no more? The influence of neighborhood racial diversity and salient national population changes on Whites’ perceptions of racial discrimination
    Craig, M.; Richeson, J.
  • Changing norms following the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election: the Trump effect on prejudice
    Crandall, C.; Miller, J.; White, M.
  • Do status‐legitimizing beliefs moderate effects of racial progress on perceptions of anti‐White bias? A replication of Wilkins and Kaiser (2014)
    Crawford, J.; Vodapalli, S.; Stingel, R.; Ruscio, J.
  • Far‐right populism and foreign policy identity: Jair Bolsonaro's ultra‐conservatism and the new politics of alignment
    De Sá Guimarães, F.; De Oliveira E Silva, I.D.
  • The ties that bind and those that don't: toward reconciling group threat and contact theories of prejudice
    Dixon, J.
  • Dominant group ethnic identity in the United States: the role of “hidden” ethnicity in intergroup relations
    Doane, A.
  • How racism discourse can mobilize right‐wing populism: the construction of identity and alliance in reactions to UKIP's Brexit “Breaking Point” campaign
    Durrheim, K.; Okuyan, M.; Twali, M.; García‐Sánchez, E.; Pereira, A.; Portice, J.
  • What the demolition of public housing teaches us about the impact of racial threat on political behavior
    Enos, R.
  • Racism, ideology, and affirmative action revisited: the antecedents and consequences of “principled objections” to affirmative action
    Federico, C.; Sidanius, J.
  • Far right parties in Europe
    Golder, M.
  • From lynching to gay bashing: the elusive connection between economic conditions and hate crime
    Green, D.; Glaser, J.; Rich, A.
  • When prosperity breeds intergroup hostility: the effects of relative deprivation and relative gratification on prejudice
    Guimond, S.; Dambrun, M.
  • The velvet glove
    Jackman, M.
  • How the economy and partisanship shaped the 2012 Presidential and Congressional Elections
    Jacobson, G.
  • White identity politics
    Jardina, A.
  • Relative deprivation and relative wealth enhances anti‐immigrant sentiments: the v‐curve re‐examined
    Jetten, J.; Mols, F.; Postmes, T.
  • Prosperous but fearful of falling: the wealth paradox, collective angst, and opposition to immigration
    Jetten, J.; Mols, F.; Steffens, N.K.
  • What is the “great replacement” and how is it tied to the Buffalo shooting suspect?
    Jones, D.
  • Exceptions that prove the rule – using a theory of motivated social cognition to account for ideological incongruities and political anomalies: reply to Greenberg and Jonas (2003)
    Jost, J.T.; Glaser, J.; Kruglanski, A.W.; Sulloway, F.J.
  • The ‘knockout game’: moral panic and the politics of white victimhood
    King, M.
  • Principles and practice of structural equation modeling
    Kline, R.
  • Deny, distance, or dismantle? How White Americans manage a privileged identity
    Knowles, E.; Lowery, B.; Chow, R.; Unzueta, M.
  • When White Americans see “non‐Whites” as a group: belief in minority collusion and support for White identity politics
    Knowles, E.D.; Tropp, L.R.; Mogami, M.
  • Shrinking and shouting: the political revolt of the declining middle in times of employment polarization
    Kurer, T.; Palier, B.
  • Perceiving personal discrimination: the role of group status and legitimizing ideology
    Major, B.; Gramzow, R.; McCoy, S.; Levin, S.; Schmader, T.; Sidanius, J.
  • Attributions to discrimination and self‐esteem: impact of group identification and situational ambiguity
    Major, B.; Quinton, W.; Schmader, T.
  • The political economy of “White Identity Politics”: economic self‐interest and perceptions of immigration
    Melcher, C.R.
  • No guts, no glory: how framing the collective past paves the way for anti‐immigrant sentiments
    Mols, F.; Jetten, J.
  • Explaining the appeal of populist right‐wing parties in times of economic prosperity
    Mols, F.; Jetten, J.
  • Understanding support for populist radical right parties: toward a model that captures both demand‐and supply‐side factors
    Mols, F.; Jetten, J.
  • Deaths of despair and support for Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election
    Monnat, S.
  • Badly off or better off than them? The impact of relative deprivation and relative gratification on intergroup discrimination
    Moscatelli, S.; Albarello, F.; Prati, F.; Rubini, M.
  • “White genocide” and the ethics of public analysis
    Moses, A.
  • Mplus user's guide (6th) [Computer software]
    Muthén, L.; Muthén, B.
  • Status threat, not economic hardship, explains the 2016 presidential vote
    Mutz, D.
  • Robustness tests for quantitative research
    Neumayer, E.; Plümper, T.
  • Cultural backlash: Trump, Brexit and authoritarian populism
    Norris, P.; Inglehart, R.
  • Income inequality and happiness
    Oishi, S.; Kesebir, S.; Diener, E.
  • Feeling threatened about the future: whites’ emotional reactions to anticipated ethnic demographic changes
    Outten, H.; Schmitt, M.; Miller, D.; Garcia, A.
  • From prejudice to discrimination: the legitimizing role of perceived threat in discrimination against immigrants
    Pereira, C.; Vala, J.; Costa‐Lopes, R.
  • The hard‐knock life? Whites claim hardships in response to racial inequity
    Phillips, T.; Lowery, B.
  • Does size really matter? On the relationship between immigrant group size and anti‐immigrant prejudice
    Pottie‐Sherman, Y.; Wilkes, R.
  • Social dominance theory and the dynamics of intergroup relations: taking stock and looking forward
    Pratto, F.; Sidanius, J.; Levin, S.
  • The social psychology of collective victimhood
    Reicher, S.; Ulusahin, Y.
  • Minorities in U.S. set to become majority by 2042
    Roberts, S.
  • A comparison of symbolic racism theory and social dominance theory as explanations for racial policy attitudes
    Sidanius, J.; Devereux, E.; Pratto, F.
  • Racism, conservatism, affirmative action, and intellectual sophistication: a matter of principled conservatism or group dominance?
    Sidanius, J.; Pratto, F.; Bobo, L.
  • The scar of race
    Sniderman, P.; Piazza, T.
  • Reducing prejudice and discrimination
    Stephan, W.G.; Stephan, C.W.
  • Competitive victimhood as a response to accusations of ingroup harm doing
    Sullivan, D.; Landau, M.; Branscombe, N.; Rothschild, Z.
  • Obama's race: The 2008 election and the dream of a post‐racial America
    Tesler, M.; Sears, D.
  • Wolves in sheep's clothing: SDO asymmetrically predicts perceived ethnic victimization among White and Latino students across three years
    Thomsen, L.; Green, E.; Ho, A.; Levin, S.; Laar, C.; Sinclair, S.
  • Swaying to the extreme: group relative deprivation predicts voting for an extreme right party in the French presidential election
    Urbanska, K.; Guimond, S.
  • Majority member's recognition and protest against discrimination of immigrants: the role of power threat, deprovincialization and common national identity
    Verkuyten, M.; Martinovic, B.
  • Racial progress as threat to the status hierarchy: implications for perceptions of anti‐White bias
    Wilkins, C.; Kaiser, C.
  • The politics of fear: What right‐wing populist discourses mean
    Wodak, R.