Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Implicit Bias and Racism
- Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology
- The Cambridge Handbook of Implicit Bias and Racism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Taking Stock of Explicit and Implicit Prejudice
- 1 Report from the NSF Conference on Implicit Bias
- Section I What is Implicit Bias and (How) Can We Measure It?
- Section II Do Measures of Implicit Bias Predict Cognition and Behavior?
- Section III Challenges of Research on Implicit Bias
- Section IV Improving Measurement and Theorizing About Implicit Bias
- Section V How to Change Implicit Bias?
- Section VI Explicit Prejudice; Alive and Well?
- Introduction
- 23 A Survey Researcher’s Response to the Implicit Revolution: Listen to What People Say
- 24 A History of the New Racisms: Symbolic Racism, Modern Racism, and Racial Resentment
- 25 The Relations Among Explicit Prejudice Measures: Anti-Black Affect and Perceptions of Value Violation as Predictors of Symbolic Racism and Attitudes toward Racial Policies
- 26 Complexities in the Measurement of Explicit Racial Attitudes
- 27 The Continuing Relevance of Whites’ Explicit Bias – and Reflections on the Tools to Measure It
- Section VII The Public’s (Mis)understanding of Implicit Bias
- Index
- References
24 - A History of the New Racisms: Symbolic Racism, Modern Racism, and Racial Resentment
from Section VI - Explicit Prejudice; Alive and Well?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 December 2024
Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Implicit Bias and Racism
- Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology
- The Cambridge Handbook of Implicit Bias and Racism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Taking Stock of Explicit and Implicit Prejudice
- 1 Report from the NSF Conference on Implicit Bias
- Section I What is Implicit Bias and (How) Can We Measure It?
- Section II Do Measures of Implicit Bias Predict Cognition and Behavior?
- Section III Challenges of Research on Implicit Bias
- Section IV Improving Measurement and Theorizing About Implicit Bias
- Section V How to Change Implicit Bias?
- Section VI Explicit Prejudice; Alive and Well?
- Introduction
- 23 A Survey Researcher’s Response to the Implicit Revolution: Listen to What People Say
- 24 A History of the New Racisms: Symbolic Racism, Modern Racism, and Racial Resentment
- 25 The Relations Among Explicit Prejudice Measures: Anti-Black Affect and Perceptions of Value Violation as Predictors of Symbolic Racism and Attitudes toward Racial Policies
- 26 Complexities in the Measurement of Explicit Racial Attitudes
- 27 The Continuing Relevance of Whites’ Explicit Bias – and Reflections on the Tools to Measure It
- Section VII The Public’s (Mis)understanding of Implicit Bias
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter traces the development of the concept of “symbolic racism,” now more commonly known as “racial resentment,” using explicit measures, unlike the implicit biases featured in other chapters. It was first introduced in a survey about the 1969 Los Angeles mayoral election, as a new form of white racial prejudice, more common and more politically powerful than the “old-fashioned racism” of the prior century, especially in white suburbs and outside the old South. I begin with the historical context of the time, as influenced by national events, the local political situation, and my personal background and that of my principal collaborators. I closely examine the original research as it appeared over the next decade, which seems to have focused more on rejecting the role of traditional racial prejudice than on fully developing the idea of a new racism. The growing clarification of the conceptualization and measurement of the new racisms over the next two decades is described. The case is made for its great, and increasing, utility for understanding the politics of the white mass public over the last half-century. I describe the main critiques of this research and our rejoinders and comment on the acrimony of these controversies.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Implicit Bias and Racism , pp. 616 - 649Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
Abramowitz, A. I. (2018). The Great Alignment: Race, Party Transformation, and the Rise of Donald Trump. New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J., et al. (1950). The Authoritarian Personality. New York, NY: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Banks, A. J. (2014). Anger and Racial Politics: The Emotional Foundation of Racial Attitudes in America. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blalock, H. M. Jr. (1967). Toward a Theory of Minority-Group Relations. New York, NY: Wiley.Google Scholar
Bobo, L. (1983). Whites’ opposition to busing: Symbolic racism or realistic group conflict? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 1196–1210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobo, L. (1988). Group conflict, prejudice, and the paradox of contemporary racial attitudes. In Katz, P. & Taylor, D. (Eds.), Eliminating Racism: Profiles in Controversy. New York, NY: Plenum.Google Scholar
Bobo, L. (1999). Prejudice as group position: Micro-foundations of a sociological approach to racism and race relations. Journal of Social Issues, 55, 445–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobo, L. D., & Tuan, M. (2006). Prejudice in Politics: Group Position, Public Opinion, and the Wisconsin Treaty Rights Dispute. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmines, E. G., Sniderman, P. M., & Easter, B. C. (2011). On the meaning, measurement, and implications of racial resentment. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 634, 98–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christie, R., & Jahoda, M. (Eds.). (1954). Studies in the Scope and Method of “The Authoritarian Personality.” Glencoe, IL: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Citrin, J., & Green, D. P., (1990). The self-interest motive in American public opinion. In Long, S. (Ed.), Research in Micropolitics (Vol. 3, pp. 1–28). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Citrin, J., Green, D. P., & Sears, D. O. (1990) White reactions to black candidates: When does race matter? Public Opinion Quarterly, 54, 74–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, N. (Ed.) (1970). The Los Angeles Riots: A Socio-Psychological Study. New York, NY: Praeger.Google Scholar
Devine, P. G. (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 5–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ditonto, T., Lau, R. R., & Sears, D. O. (2013). AMPing racial attitudes: Comparing the power of explicit and implicit attitudes in 2008. Political Psychology, 34, 487–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, S., & Huddy, L. (2005). Racial resentment and white opposition to race-conscious programs: Principles or prejudice? American Journal of Political Science, 49, 168–183.Google Scholar
Freedman, J. L., & Sears, D. O. (1965) Selective exposure. In Berkowitz, L. (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. II. New York, NY: Academic Press, pp. 58–97.Google Scholar
Giles, M. W., & Buckner, M. A. (1993). David Duke and racial threat: An old hypothesis revisited. Journal of Politics, 55, 702–713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henry, P. J., & Sears, D. O. (2002). The symbolic racism 2000 scale. Political Psychology, 23, 253–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huddy, L., & Feldman, S. (2009). On assessing the political effects of racial prejudice. Annual Review of Political Science, 12, 423–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchings, V. L., & Valentino, N. A. (2004). The centrality of race in American politics. Annual Review of Political Science, 7, 383–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyman, H., & Sheatsley, P. B. (1964). Attitudes toward desegregation. Scientific American, 211, 16–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iyengar, S., Sood, G., & Lelkes, Y. (2012). Affect, not ideology: A social identity perspective on polarization. Public Opinion Quarterly, 76, 405–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iyengar, S., & Westwood, S. J. (2015). Fear and loathing across party lines: New evidence of group polarization. American Journal of Political Science, 59, 690–707.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jardina, A. (2019). White Identity Politics. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Key, V. O. Jr. (1949). Southern Politics in State and Nation. New York, NY: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Kinder, D. R. (1986). The continuing American dilemma: White resistance to racial change 40 years after Myrdal. Journal of Social Issues, 42, 151–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinder, D. R., & Dale-Riddle, A. (2012). The End of Race? Obama, 2008, and Racial Politics in America. New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Kinder, D. R., & Kam, C. D. (2009). Us Against Them: Ethnocentric Foundations of American Opinion. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinder, D. R., & Kiewiet, D. R. (1979). Economic discontent and political behavior: The role of personal grievances and collective economic judgments in congressional voting. American Journal of Political Science, 23, 495–527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinder, D. R., & Mendelberg, T. (2000). Individualism reconsidered: Principles and prejudice in contemporary American opinion. In Sears, D. O., Sidanius, J., & Bobo, L. (Eds.), Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kinder, D. R., & Sanders, L. M. (1996). Divided by Color: Racial Politics and Democratic Ideals. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kinder, D. R., & Sears, D. O. (1981). Prejudice and politics: Symbolic racism versus racial threats to the good life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40, 414–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kornhauser, W. (1959). The Politics of Mass Society. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press of Glencoe.Google Scholar
Lane, R. E. (1962). Political Ideology: Why the American Common Man Believes What He Does. New York, NY: The Free Press of Glencoe.Google Scholar
Lane, R. E., & Sears, D. O. (1964) Public Opinion. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.Google Scholar
Lipset, S. M., & Raab, E. (1955). The sources of the “radical right.” In Bell, D. (Ed.), The New American Right. New York, NY: Criterion.Google Scholar
McConahay, J. B. (1982). Self-interest versus racial attitudes as correlates of anti-busing attitudes in Louisville: Is it the buses or the blacks? Journal of Politics, 44, 692–720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McConahay, J. B. (1986). Modern racism, ambivalence, and the modern racism scale. In Dovidio, J., & Gaertner, S. (Eds.), Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.Google Scholar
McConahay, J. B., Hardee, B. B., & Batts, V. (1981). Has racism declined in America? It depends upon who is asking and what is asked. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 25, 563–579.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McConahay, J. B., & Hough, J. Jr. (1976). Symbolic racism. Journal of Social Issues, 32, 23–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendelberg, T. (2001). The Race Card: Campaign Strategy, Implicit Messages, and the Norm of Equality. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettigrew, T. F. (1959). Regional differences in anti-Negro prejudice. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59, 28–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pettigrew, T. F., & Meertens, R. W. (1995). Subtle and blatant prejudice in Western Europe. European Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 57–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Rabinowitz, J. L., Sears, D. O., Sidanius, J., et al. (2009). Why do white Americans oppose race-targeted policies? Clarifying the impact of symbolic racism. Political Psychology, 30, 805–828.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riley, R. T., Sears, D. O., & Pettigrew, T. F. (1969). Race, unrest, and the old Angeleno: The Bradley defeat in Los Angeles. Unpublished paper, June 8.Google Scholar
Roos, J. M., Hughes, M., & Reichelmann, A. V. (2019). A puzzle of racial attitudes: A measurement analysis of racial attitudes and policy indicators. Socius, 5, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schuman, H. (2000). The perils of correlation, the lure of labels, and the beauty of negative results. In Sears, D. O., Sidanius, J., & Bobo, L., Eds. (2000). Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Schuman, H., Steeh, C., & Bobo, L. (1985). Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Schuman, H., Steeh, C., Bobo, L., et al. (1997). Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations (revised edition). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O. (1975). Political socialization. In Greenstein, F. I. & Polsby, N. W. (Eds.). Handbook of Political Science. Vol 2: Micropolitical Theory. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O. (1983). The persistence of early political predispositions: The roles of attitude object and life stage. In Wheeler, L. & Shaver, P. (Eds.), Review of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 4. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O. (1988). Symbolic racism. In Katz, P. & Taylor, D. (Eds.), Eliminating Racism: Profiles in Controversy. New York, NY: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O. (1993). Symbolic politics: A socio-psychological theory. In Iyengar, S. & McGuire, W. J. (Eds.), Explorations in Political Psychology. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, pp. 113–149.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O. (1994). Ideological bias in political psychology: The view from scientific hell. Political Psychology, 15, 547–556.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sears, D. O. (2001). The role of affect in symbolic politics. In Kuklinski, J. (Ed.), Citizens and Politics: Perspectives from Political psychology. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, pp. 14–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sears, D. O., & Citrin, J. (1982). Tax Revolt: Something for Nothing in California. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O., & Funk, C. L. (1991). The role of self-interest in social and political attitudes. In Zanna, M. (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, (Vol. 24, pp. 191). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O., Haley, H., & Henry, P. J. (2008). Cultural diversity and sociopolitical attitudes at college entry. In Sidanius, J., Levin, S., van Laar, C., & Sears, D. O., The Diversity Challenge: Social Identity and Intergroup Relations on the College Campus. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O., & Henry, P. J. (2003). The origins of symbolic racism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 259–275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sears, D. O., & Henry, P. J. (2005). Over thirty years later: A contemporary look at symbolic racism and its critics. In Zanna, M. P. (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. New York, NY: Academic Press, pp. 95–150.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O., Henry, P. J., & Kosterman, R. (2000). Egalitarian values and contemporary racial politics. In Sears, D. O., Sidanius, J., & Bobo, L. (Eds.), Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O., Hensler, C. P., & Speer, L. (1979). Whites’ opposition to ‘busing.:’ Self-interest or symbolic politics? American Political Science Review, 73, 369–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sears, D. O., & Kinder, D. R. (1970). The good life, “white racism,” and the Los Angeles voter. Paper delivered at the 50th annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Los Angeles, April 15, 1970.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O., & Kinder, D. R. (1971). Racial tensions and voting in Los Angeles. In Hirsch, W. (Ed.), Los Angeles: Viability and Prospects for Metropolitan Leadership. New York, NY: Praeger.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O., & Kinder, D. R. (1985). Whites’ opposition to busing: On conceptualizing and operationalizing group conflict. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 1141–1147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sears, D. O., Lau, R. R., Tyler, T. R., et al. (1980). Self-interest vs. symbolic politics in policy attitudes and presidential voting. American Political Science Review, 74, 670–684.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sears, D. O., & McConahay, J. B. (1973). The Politics of Violence: The New Urban Blacks and the Watts Riot. Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O., & Savalei, V. (2006). The political color line in America: Many peoples of color or black exceptionalism? Political Psychology, 27, 895–924.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sears, D. O., Sidanius, J., & Bobo, L. (Eds.) (2000). Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sears, D. O., van Laar, C., Carrillo, M., et al. (1997). Is it really racism? The origins of white Americans’ opposition to race-targeted policies. Public Opinion Quarterly, 61, 16–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sidanius, J., Levin, S., Rabinowitz, J. L., et al. (1999). Peering into the jaws of the beast: The integrative dynamics of social identity, symbolic racism, and social dominance. In Prentice, D. A. & Miller, D. T. (Eds.), Cultural Divides: Understanding and Overcoming Group Conflict. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (1999). Social Dominance: An Intergroup Theory of Social Hierarchy and Oppression. New York, NJ: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sides, J., Tesler, M., & Vavreck, L. (2018). Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sniderman, P. M., & Tetlock, P. (1986a). Symbolic racism: Problems of motive attribution in political debate. Journal of Social Issues, 42, 129–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sniderman, P. M., & Tetlock, P. (1986b). Reflections on American racism. Journal of Social Issues, 42, 173–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sonenshein, R. J. (1993). Politics in Black and White: Race and Power in Los Angeles. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoker, L. (1998). Understanding whites’ resistance to affirmative action: The role of principled commitments and racial prejudice. In Hurwitz, J. & Peffley, M. (Eds.), Perception and Prejudice: Race and Politics in the United States. New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Tarman, C., & Sears, D. O. (2005). The conceptualization and measurement of symbolic racism. Journal of Politics. 67, 731–761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tesler, M. (2012). The spillover of racialization into health care: How President Obama polarized public opinion by racial attitudes and race. American Journal of Political Science, 56, 690–704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tesler, M. (2013). The return of old-fashioned racism to white Americans’ partisan preferences in the early Obama era. Journal of Politics, 75, 110–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tesler, M. (2016). Post-racial or Most-racial? Race and Politics in the Obama Era. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tesler, M., & Sears, D. O. (2010). Obama’s Race: The 2008 Election and the Dream of a Post-racial America. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tetlock, P. E. (1994). Political psychology or politicized psychology: Is the road to scientific hell paved with good moral intentions? Political Psychology, 15, 509–529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valentino, N. A., & Sears, D. O. (2005). Old times there are not forgotten: Race and partisan realignment in the contemporary South. American Journal of Political Science, 49, 672–688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Virtanen, S. V., & Huddy, L. (1998). Old-fashioned racism and new forms of racial prejudice. The Journal of Politics, 60, 311–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, J. Q. (1967). A guide to Reagan country: The political culture of Southern California. Commentary, 43, 37–45.Google Scholar
Wolfinger, R. E., & Greenstein, F. I. (1969). Comparing political regions: The case of California. American Political Science Review, 63, 74–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar