Abstract
Increasing diversity and the anticipation of its resulting cultural change is raising vociferous protestations among White Americans. Here, we explore moderation and mediation of its intergroup implications. Among a nationally representative sample of White Americans, Study 1 (n = 2,257) revealed that living in a region that experienced a greater (vs. lesser) increase in racial diversity in recent years was associated with more anti-immigrant attitudes, but only among those who were highly White-identified. In an experiment, Study 2 (n = 420, White Americans) revealed that collective nostalgia (i.e., longing for the ingroup’s past) mediated the relation between anticipated cultural change resulting from shifting demographics and anti-immigrant attitudes, but only for those who were highly White-identified. Thus, anti-immigrant sentiment among White Americans in response to changing demographics and culture is seen primarily among those personally invested in their White racial identity, an effect partly explained by a longing for bygone days.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
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.
