In three studies, we examined how racial progress affects Whites’ perceptions of anti-White bias. When racial progress was chronically (Study 1) and experimentally (Study 2) salient, Whites who believed the current U.S. status hierarchy was legitimate were more likely to report that Whites were victims of racial discrimination. In contrast, Whites who perceived the current status system as illegitimate were unaffected by the salience of racial progress. The results of Study 3 point to the role of threat in explaining these divergent reactions to racial progress. When self-affirmed, Whites who perceived the status hierarchy as legitimate no longer showed increased perceptions of anti-White bias when confronted with evidence of racial progress. Implications for policies designed to remedy social inequality are discussed.
ApfelbaumE. P.NortonM. I.SommersS. R. (2012). Racial colorblindness: Emergence, practice, and implications. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 205–209.
2.
BettencourtB. A.DorrN.CharltonK.HumeD. L. (2001). Status differences and in-group bias: A meta-analytic examination of the effects of status stability, status legitimacy, and group permeability. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 520–542.
3.
ChambersJ. R.SchlenkerB. R.CollissonB. (2013). Ideology and prejudice: The role of value conflicts. Psychological Science, 24, 140–149.
4.
CohenJ.CohenP.AikenL. S.WestS. H. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
5.
CrockerJ.MajorB. (1989). Social stigma and self-esteem: The self-protective properties of stigma. Psychological Review, 96, 608–630. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.96.4.608
6.
CrockerJ.MajorB. (1994). Reactions to stigma: The moderating role of justifications. In ZannaM. P.OlsonJ. M. (Eds.), The psychology of prejudice: The Ontario Symposium (Vol. 7, pp. 289–314). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
7.
DovidioJ. F.GaertnerS. L. (1986). Prejudice, discrimination, and racism: Historical trends and contemporary approaches. In DovidioJ. F.GaertnerS. L. (Eds.), Prejudice, discrimination, and racism (pp. 1–34). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
8.
EibachR. P.Purdie-VaughnsV. (2010). How to keep on keeping on: Framing civil rights accomplishments to bolster support for egalitarian policies. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 274–277.
JostJ. T.BanajiM. R. (1994). The role of stereotyping in system-justification and the production of false consciousness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 1–27.
11.
JostJ. T.HunyadyO. (2002). The psychology of system justification and the palliative function of ideology. European Review of Social Psychology, 13, 111–153.
12.
KaiserC. R.DruryB. J.SpaldingK. E.CheryanS.O’BrienL. T. (2009). The ironic consequences of Obama’s election: Decreased support for social justice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 556–559. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.01.006
13.
KinderD. R.SearsD. O. (1981). Prejudice and politics: Symbolic racism versus racial threats to the good life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40, 414–431.
LevinS.SidaniusJ.RabinowitzJ.FedericoC. (1998). Ethnic identity, legitimizing ideologies and social status: A matter of ideological asymmetry. Political Psychology, 19, 373–404.
16.
MajorB.GramzowR. H.McCoyS. K.LevinS.SchmaderT.SidaniusJ. (2002). Perceiving personal discrimination: The role of group status and legitimizing ideology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 269–282. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.82.3.269
17.
MajorB.KaiserC. R.McCoyS. K. (2003). It’s not my fault: When and why attributions to prejudice protect self-esteem. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 772–781. doi:10.1177/0146167203029006009
18.
MajorB.McFarlinD. B.GagnonD. (1989). Overworked and underpaid: On the nature of gender differences in personal entitlement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 1399–1412.
19.
MoninB.SawyerP. J.MarquezM. J. (2008). The rejection of moral rebels: Resenting those who do the right thing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 76–93.
20.
NortonM. I.SommersS. R. (2011). Whites see racism as a zero-sum game that they are now losing. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 215–218. doi:10.1177/1745691611406922
21.
O’BrienL. T.MajorB. (2005). System-justifying beliefs and psychological well-being: The roles of group status and identity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1718–1729. doi:10.1177/0146167205278261
22.
PettitB. (2012). Invisible men: Mass incarceration and the myth of Black progress. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
23.
PlautV. C. (2011). Law and the zero-sum game of discrimination: Commentary on Norton and Sommers. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 219–221.
ScheepersD. (2009). Turning social identity threat into challenge: Status stability and cardiovascular reactivity during intergroup competition. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 228–233.
26.
ScheepersD.EllemersN.SintemaartensdijkN. (2009). Suffering from the possibility of status loss: Physiological responses to social identity threat in high status groups. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 1075–1093.
27.
SearsD. O.TeslerM. (2011, January). Perceptions of Blacks’ progress and their impact on racial attitudes before and after Obama’s victory. Talk presented at the 11th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.
28.
ShermanD. K.CohenG. L. (2006). The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory. In ZannaM. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 38, pp. 183–242). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
29.
SidaniusJ.PrattoF. (1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
30.
SteeleC. M. (1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. In BerkowitzL. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 261–302). New York, NY: Academic Press.
31.
TurnerJ. C.BrownR. (1978). Social status, cognitive alternatives, and intergroup relations. In TajfelH. (Ed.), Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 202–234). New York, NY: Academic Press.
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
