Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Conservatives report much more favorable attitudes toward Confederate symbols (e.g., flags, monuments) than liberals. However, little work has examined factors that mediate or explain this robust political difference. Across two studies, we explored whether knowledge of historical racism mediates political differences in Confederate symbol attitudes. In a predominantly White internet sample (N = 227, U.S. South), Study 1 found that the association between political conservatism and attitudes toward Confederate symbols was mediated by historical knowledge. Further, this mediation effect remained after adjusting for Southern identity. Study 2 replicated the predicted mediation effect in a racially diverse university sample and found that it obtains across racial-ethnic groups (N = 557, U.S. Southeast). These results suggest that ignorance of historical racism helps to explain political differences in Confederate symbol attitudes. We discuss implications of these findings for research on the connection between historical knowledge and racial attitudes (i.e., the Marley hypothesis).

Keywords

confederate flag politics attitudes racism identity

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Banfield

J. C.

Ross

Blatz

C. W.

(2014). Responding to historical injustices: Does group membership trump liberal-conservative ideology? European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(1), 30–42. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.1990

Barnes

(2023, February 9). Man who carried a Confederate flag in the Capitol on Jan. 6 is sentenced to 3 years. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/kevin-seefried-confederate-flag-capitol-jan-6-sentenced-rcna69784

Benjamin

Block

Jr. Clemons

Laird

Wamble

(2020). Set in stone? Predicting Confederate monument removal. Political Science & Politics, 53(2), 237–242. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096519002026

Bonam

C. M.

Nair Das

Coleman

B. R.

Salter

(2019). Ignoring history, denying racism: Mounting evidence for the Marley hypothesis and epistemologies of ignorance. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10(2), 257–265. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617751583

Burns

M. D.

Granz

E. L.

(2022). “Past injustice and present prejudice”: Reducing racial bias and increasing sympathy by framing historical racism as recent. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 25(5), 1312–1332. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302211005852

Burns

M. D.

Granz

E. L.

Williams

K. D.

(2023). Support for Native-themed mascots and opposition to political correctness. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 26(7), 1589–1610. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302221106924

Burns

M. D.

Granz

E. L.

Williams

K. D.

(2024). Beyond “pride or prejudice”: Conservatism, opposition to political correctness, and support for Confederate and other controversial statues. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 27(7), 1477–1500. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302231219672

Carrington

N. T.

Strother

(2021). Who thinks removing Confederate icons violates free speech? Politics, Groups, and Identities, 9(1), 208–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2020.1748067

Cooper

C. A.

Hood

M. V.

III Huffmon

Kidd

Knotts

G. H.

McKee

S. C.

(2022). Switching sides but still fighting the Civil War in southern politics. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 10(1), 100–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2020.1773281

10.

Cooper

C. A.

Huffmon

S. H.

Knotts

H. G.

McKee

S. C.

(2021). Heritage versus hate: Assessing opinions in the debate over confederate monuments and memorials. Social Science Quarterly, 102(3), 1098–1110. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12969

11.

Cooper

C. A.

Knotts

H. G.

(2006). Region, race, and support for the South Carolina Confederate flags. Social Science Quarterly, 87(1), 142–154. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42956114

12.

Ehrlinger

Plant

E. A.

Eibach

R. P.

Columb

C. J.

Goplen

J. L.

Kunstman

J. W.

Butz

D. A.

(2011). How exposure to the Confederate flag affects willingness to vote for Barack Obama. Political Psychology, 32(1), 131–146. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41057682

13.

Eidelman

Jabr

Vance

Altgilbers Roweton

Eubanks

(2025). Racial knowledge and the tenets of critical race theory: Is opposition to CRT due to ignorance? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251321993

14.

Engelhardt

A. M.

(2021). Racial attitudes through a partisan lens. British Journal of Political Science, 51(3), 1062–1079. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123419000437

15.

Hayes

A. F.

(2022). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.

16.

Jones

J. M.

(2015, July 8). Democrats’ views on Confederate flag increasingly negative. Gallup. https://news.gallup.com/poll/184040/democrats-views-confederate-flag-increasingly-negative.aspx

17.

Martin

K. J.

Johnson

K. L.

(2024). You can’t dismantle what you don’t recognize: The effect of learning critical Black history in healthcare on perspective-taking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 153(11), 2631–2641. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/xge0001482

18.

Nelson

J. C.

Adams

Salter

P. S.

(2013). The Marley hypothesis: Denial of racism reflects ignorance of history. Psychological Science, 24(2), 213–218. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612451466

19.

Newport

(2000, May 9). Americans divided on Southern states flying the Confederate flag: Majority of public opposes boycott, however. Gallup. https://news.gallup.com/poll/2926/Americans-Divided-Southern-States-Flying-Confederate-Flag.aspx

20.

Onyeador

I. N.

Wittlin

N. M.

Burke

S. E.

Dovidio

J. F.

Perry

S. P.

Hardeman

R. R.

Dyrbye

L. N.

Herrin

Phelan

S. M.

van Ryn

(2020). The value of interracial contact for reducing anti-Black bias among non-Black physicians: A cognitive habits and growth evaluation (CHANGE) study report. Psychological Science, 31(1), 18–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619879139

21.

Orey

B. D.

(2004). White racial attitudes and support for the Mississippi state flag. American Politics Research, 32(1), 102–116. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X03255169

22.

Orey

B. D.

Baptist

Sinclair-Chapman

(2021). Racial identity and emotional responses to confederate symbols. Social Science Quarterly, 102(4), 1882–1893. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.13032

23.

Osborn

(2015, June 23). U.S. retailers quick to pull Confederate flag merchandise. Time. https://time.com/3932719/confederate-flag-american-retailers/

24.

Pettigrew

T. F.

Tropp

L. R.

(2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(5), 751–783. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.90.5.751

25.

PRRI. (2024, June 18). Creating more inclusive public spaces two years later. https://prri.org/research/creating-more-inclusive-public-spaces-two-years-later/

26.

Rios

Mischkowski

Stephenson

N. B.

(2022). White people problems? White privilege beliefs predict attitudes toward Confederate symbols. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 13(7), 1105–1113. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506211051913

27.

Southern Poverty Law Center. (2022, February 1). Whose heritage? Public symbols of the Confederacy (3rd ed.). SPLC. https://www.splcenter.org/20220201/whose-heritage-public-symbols-confederacy-third-edition#top

28.

Stanislaw

Todorov

(1999). Calculation of signal detection theory measures. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 31(1), 137–149. https://doi/10.3758/BF03207704

29.

Strickhouser

J. E.

Zell

Harris

K. E.

(2019). Ignorance of history and perceptions of racism: Another look at the Marley hypothesis. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10(7), 977–985. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618808863

30.

Strother

(2021). Racism and pride in attitudes toward confederate symbols. Sociology Compass, 15(6), e12882. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12882

31.

Strother

Piston

Ogorzalek

(2017). Pride or prejudice? Racial prejudice, Southern heritage, and white support for the Confederate battle flag. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 14(1), 295–323. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X17000017

32.

Talbert

R. D.

Patterson

E. J.

(2020). Racial stratification and the Confederate flag: Comparing four perspectives to explain flag support. Race and Social Problems, 12, 233–245. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-020-09288-y

33.

Treisman

(2025, February 11). Fort Bragg 2.0: Army base reverts to its old name, but with a new namesake. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/nx-s1-5293246/hegseth-fort-bragg-liberty-name

34.

Weber

J. L.

Hassler

W. W.

(2025, February 5). American Civil War. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Civil-War/The-war-in-1862

35.

Wright

J. D.

Esses

V. M.

(2017). Support for the Confederate battle flag in the Southern United States: Racism or Southern pride? Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 5(1), 224–243. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v5i1.687

36.

Zell

Burnett

M. I.

(2024). Transgender knowledge mediates U.S. political differences in prejudice and support for trans-inclusive policies. Sex Roles, 90(12), 1879–1890. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-024-01539-1

37.

Zell

Lesick

T. L.

(2022). Ignorance of history and political differences in perception of racism in the United States. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 13(6), 1022–1031. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506211056493

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.

0.00 MB

0.02 MB

Ignorance of history,political ideology,and attitudes toward Confederate symbols in the United States

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material