Free your mind: contemporary racial attitudes and post racial theory.
Bonnette, Lakeyta M. ; Gershon, Sarah M. ; Hall, Precious D. 等
The inauguration of the United States first Black President has
prompted mass discussions of race relations in America. It is often
articulated that America is now in a post-racial society. However, the
question still remains: does the election of a Black president
demonstrate that America is now a "color-blind" society? To
answer this question, we rely on data collected by PEW (2007). Our
results suggest that white and African Americans differ significantly in
the extent to which they express post-racial attitudes. Specifically, we
find that whites more commonly express post-racial attitudes, claiming
that racism and discrimination are rare, in opposition to African
American views. On the other hand, blacks are more likely to believe
that discrimination still occurs. We further find that whites'
post-racial beliefs are significant determinants of their attitudes
towards race-related policies, such as affirmative action.
Keywords: Race, Obama, Post-racial, Public Opinion, Racial
Attitudes, Racial Politics, African American.
**********
In November 2008, the United States elected its first African
American president. Preceding the election, pundits, academics, and the
candidates themselves, debated whether Barack Obama (or any African
American for that matter) could potentially become the first Black
president of the United States. Central to these arguments was the role
of race in politics and society at large. If race remained a significant
cleavage in American society (many argued), it seemed unlikely that any
member of a racial minority group would be able to win in a majority
white America. In the days and weeks following the 2008 presidential
election, it was frequently suggested that Obama's success was some
indicator that Martin Luther King Jr's "dream" of a
society that did not use race as its dominant predictor of character was
actualized (see Thernstrom 2008).
Since Obama's election, both scholars and political pundits
have engaged in arguments over whether America has in fact moved toward
a point where race is no longer the defining cleavage in American
society (e.g.; Piston 2010; Steele 2008; Teasley and Ikard 2010;
Thernstrom 2008). On the one hand, events such as the election of
President Obama as well as that of Michael Steele as chair of the
Republican National Committee may very well indicate that Americans
place less emphasis on race when voting for their political leaders.
However, there still remains evidence to suggest that we are not in a
new phase of post-racial politics and a post-racial America. During
Obama's first campaign there was an emphasis on his race to
designate distinction, deviancy, and fear. For example, the image of
Michelle and Barack Obama on the cover of the New Yorker displayed,
among other things, racism and xenophobia. In this image not only was
the fist-bump displayed, (that previously had been denoted as
"terrorist" by the McCain-Palin camp), but also a depiction of
Michelle Obama donning an afro, an assault rifle and military fatigues
while presidential candidate Barack Obama was wearing Islamic attire
alluding to his suggested Islamic connections. Also, depicted in the
background of this image was a picture of Osama Bin Laden and the
burning of the American flag in the fireplace. This insidious image was
in fact inherently racist and xenophobic. But images and racist
depictions of the Obama's were not the only indication that racism
is still prevalent. After Obama's election there were a number of
racist incidents. In Snellville, Ga an elementary school boy was told by
his classmate that he "... hopes Obama gets assassinated"
(www.nbcnews.com) (1). In the same town, someone trashed a woman's
lawn that featured Obama election signs and placed feces in a pizza box
on her front door. Similarly, crosses were burned on people's front
yards who were Obama supporters, threatening letters were left on the
cars of Obama supporters and images of Obama were defaced and
threatening messages were visible (www.nbcnews.com). (2) Given the
confluence of these racially polarizing events, we cannot conclude that
we are living in a post-racial or "color blind" society as
some suggest.
One indicator that Americans are moving in the direction of
postracialism are the attitudes they adopt. That is to say, the less
Americans believe race defines differences among their fellow citizens
(in politics, attitudes and behavior) the closer we may become to a
society in which race is no longer a defining cleavage. Shifting
attitudes on race may have serious political, and policy-making
implications. For instance, if Americans no longer believe race matters,
they may be less inclined to recognize continuing discrimination or
persistent racial inequalities. As a result, support for policies aimed
at curbing discrimination and ensuring racial equality may weaken. More
positively, a shift towards post-racial attitudes (particularly among
white Americans) may improve the prospects of minority candidates
seeking public office, thus increasing minority representation. Clearly,
the potential implications of a shift towards more post-racial thinking
among Americans are significant. As such, identifying and understanding
these attitudes is critical.
In this article, we examine the prevalence and predictors of so
called "post-racial" attitudes, relying on data collected in
2007 by the Pew Research Center. In our examination, we find significant
variation in the presence of post-racial attitudes among respondents
based on their race and experiences. Specifically, we find that whites
and those respondents with diverse social groups are the most likely to
express post-racial attitudes, controlling for other explanations. We
conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings.
RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN PUBLIC OPINION: PREVIOUS LITERATURE AND
THEORY
The majority of research on racial attitudes in America has
examined attitudes related to race and discrimination as well as
explicitly and implicitly racial issues/policies among blacks and
whites, with the bulk of this research finding significant differences
among black and white Americans in this regard (e.g.; Hutchings and
Valentino 2004; Kinder and Sanders 1996). The existing research may be
thought of as falling into three major theoretical camps:
"sociopsychological" theories, "social structural"
theories and "political" theories of racial attitudes
(Harris-Lacewell, 2003).
Included in the "sociopsychological" approach are studies
of subtle or ambivalent racism, aversive racism, covert racism, and the
more popular approaches of racial resentment or symbolic/modern racism
(Devine 1989; Gaertner and Dovidio 1986; Kinder and Sears 1981;
Pettigrew and Meertens 1995; Sears, Hetts, Sidanius and Bobo 2000).
Symbolic racism, often argued by Kinder and Sears (1981), contends that
"anti-Black affect and traditional American values contributes to
White resistance toward affirmative action and other government
sponsored remedies for racial inequality" (Harris-Lacewell 2003,
225-226). This theoretical camp is often confirmed by observing opinion
over time, which demonstrates that overt 'biological' racial
attitudes, such as beliefs that Blacks are inferior, are no longer
supported. Instead, this research typically finds that contemporary
whites' negative stereotypes of blacks' values and behaviors,
combined with their support for core American values of work ethic and
self-reliance, leads to a more subtle form of 'symbolic' or
'new' racism based largely on the perception that blacks
violate traditional American values (Sears, Hettts, Sidanius and Bobo
2000).
Symbolic or 'new' racism is typically measured relying on
several questions tapping attitudes about the prevalence of
discrimination, attitudes about the work ethic of blacks and whether
they have received undue advantages or government assistance (Kinder and
Mendelberg 2000; Kinder and Sanders 1996; Sears, Henry and Kosterman
2000; Tarman and Sears 2005). The symbolic racism literature has also
clearly demonstrated the impact of these orientations on whites'
support for policies which are both explicitly and implicitly related to
race (e.g.; welfare and affirmative action), decreasing support for such
policies (Kinder and Mendelberg 2000; Tarman and Sears 2005).
The second theoretical approach to studying racial attitudes is the
"social structural" approach. This set of theories consists of
social dominance theory, group threat, racial threat theory, realistic
group conflict theory, social identity theory and implicit stereotyping
(Devine 1989; Dovidio et al. 1997; Fazio et al. 1995; Sidanius and
Pratto 1999; Tajfel and Turner 1986). This approach asserts that
individuals identify with groups that share their racial and/or ethnic
identity. Whites' opposition to racial policies is then believed to
be largely due to perceptions of conflict with other racial and ethnic
groups, namely blacks (Sears, Hetts, Sidanius, and Bobo 2000). Sidanius
and Pratto (1999) suggest that "group based social hierarchies are
reproduced by interaction and reinforcement of inequality by individuals
or institutions of the dominant group" (Harris-Lacewell 2003, 226).
Proponents of the social structural approach often situate racial
attitudes derived from group interests in historical context,
theorizing, for example, that while white racial attitudes might have
evolved from the earlier form of 'biological' racism toward a
newer form of 'laissez-faire' racism, the desire among whites
to maintain a dominant position in society remains the same (Bobo,
Kluegel and Smith 1997). As with the symbolic racism literature,
scholars examining group threat have found whites' racial attitudes
to be strongly linked with their support (or lack thereof) for policies
linked to race (Bobo 2000).
The final approach to understanding racial attitudes is the
political (sometimes called the "politics-centered") approach
which suggests that "disagreements over racial policies are often
about political rather than racial attitudes" (Harris-Lacewell
2003, 226). Proponents of this approach assert that political
orientations (particularly about the role of government) and not racial
attitudes, shape whites' support for racial policies (Sniderman and
Piazza 1993; Sinderman and Carmines 1997). These scholars do not deny
the existence of racial attitudes, however, their research suggests that
the role of these attitudes in determining policy preferences is
minimal. In other words, it is the policy and not prejudices or racial
resentment that causes political disagreements. To support their claims
regarding the current role of race in white opposition to various
policies, these scholars have found weak relationships between racial
attitudes and policy preferences, finding political orientations and
values much more powerful predictors of such policy support (e.g.;
Sniderman, Crosby and Howell 2000).
Observing all of these theories, we can conclude that understanding
racial attitudes is important in political society. Racial attitudes do
not only manifest in policy decisions but also election and
participation decisions for both African Americans and Caucasian
Americans. The study of racial attitudes in American politics continues
to play a major role during this era in which an African American has
secured the political position of the presidency and at a time in which
there are contentious campaign rallies. Furthermore, the variation
described in the racial attitudes literature demonstrates how difficult
it is to conclude on the "best" measures of racism in American
politics. Thus, we focus not on racism but on the idea of an elimination
of racial categorization as a defining factor in political and policy
assessment. If what the pundits argue is true, that we are moving
towards a post racial society, we should observe a decline in the
support of typical racism predictors among all groups.
POST-RACIALISM
While numerous scholars have written about the possibility of a
post-racial society or the presence of post-racial candidates,
attitudes, etc., few have offered a clear definition and measurement
schema of post-racialism. Conventional research suggests that a
post-racial society is one in which defining cleavages do not fall along
racial lines (Cho 2009; Edge 2010; Gallagher 2003; Hutchings 2009;
Steele 2008). For instance, Cho argues that post-racialism is an
ideology that asserts, because of "significant racial progress that
has been made, the state need not engage in race-based decision making
or adopt race-based remedies, and that civil society should eschew race
as a central organizing principle. ..." (Cho, 2009,1589). She also
states that there are four central features to post-racialism,
"racial progress, race neutral universalism, moral equivalence and
distancing move" (Cho, 2009 1600). Other scholars' discussion
of post-racialism mirror many of Cho's assertions, discussing
post-racialism as the belief that race is no longer a significant
impediment for blacks seeking employment, higher education, or political
office (Metzler 2010). Metzler (2010) asserts, for example, that a white
person who has adopted post-racial attitudes is someone who,
... situates racism in the past; embraces formal equality; believes
that America has done so much for Blacks and yet Blacks never seem to
think that it is enough; walks on eggshells around Blacks for fear of
saying something offensive; believes in interracial dating so long as it
is not their son or daughter who is marrying Black; does not see
themselves as racialized but basks in White privilege; believes that
Blacks use race as an excuse for failure, that Blacks who are successful
are the exception; believes that pretending that race does not matter
makes it true; and still harbors and makes decisions based on the
powerful marker of race that is imbedded in American racial reality.
(Metzler 2010, 402)
Thus, post-racialism requires a belief that racial equality
essentially exists and that race will have little impact on black
American's prospects.
While, we have observed many articulations of what post-racialism
looks like and how it is articulated, the quantitative evidence on
post-racialism is minimal. Vincent Hutchings (2009), one of the few
scholars who have attempted to empirically measure post-racism,
primarily by comparing support for racial policies from ANES data
collected in 1988 to ANES data collected twenty years later in 2008,
finds little evidence of a decline in a racial divide among Americans.
He concludes that the post-racial society that many allude to is not
evident when observing Black and White Americans' views on policy
issues such as affirmative action, governmental aid and fair job
treatment (Hutchings 2009).
To add to this limited research on post-racialism, we explore the
presence and predictors of post-racial attitudes, focusing primarily on
the extent to which Americans (blacks and whites) believe race to be a
significant challenge for African Americans (seeking political office,
housing, employment, education, etc), and the extent to which they
believe differences among whites and blacks have become smaller in
recent years.
DATA, METHODS, AND MEASURES
To examine the presence and consequences of post-racial attitudes
among Americans, we rely on survey data from the Pew Center's 2007
"Racial Attitudes in America" Survey. We rely on this survey
not only due to the number of measures tapping attitudes towards race
and politics, but due to its oversample of racial and ethnic minorities.
The initial sample consisted of 1,500 non-Hispanic whites, 1,000
non-Hispanic blacks and 500 Hispanics. (3) Since this examination is
primarily concerned with attitudinal differences among Anglos and
African Americans, Hispanics were excluded from the analyses presented
here.
DEPENDENT VARIABLES
To capture post racial attitudes, we rely on three measures. First,
we examine the extent to which Americans believe discrimination remains
a problem in the U.S. If Americans believe that race is not a defining
cleavage in American society, they may be less likely to expect that
racial discrimination occurs with great frequency. To examine attitudes
about discrimination, we rely on a scale based on responses to four
questions asking respondents how often they thought blacks were
discriminated against in employment, housing, education, and while
shopping. The responses to these questions are summed to create a
post-racial responses scale for all four questions. (4)
Our second measure of post-racial attitudes is based on a question
asking respondents whether they thought then Senator Obama's race
would help him, hurt him or make no difference to voters in the 2008
election. We expect that voters who hold post-racial views will believe
that Obama's race would make no difference in the election. As such
we created a dichotomous variable based on this question (1 = Race will
not make a difference, 0 = Other). This categorization is based on the
sociopsychological studies that argue that Whites believe racial
distinctions are no longer relevant and instead values are the basis for
advancement and discrimination in this country (Kinder and Sears 1981,
1996).
Finally, we expect that Americans holding post-racial attitudes
will be less likely to perceive race based differences among African
Americans and Anglos. To capture these attitudes, we rely on a question
asking respondents whether they thought that the values of black and
white people have become more similar or more different in the past 10
years. We expect that those Americans possessing post-racial attitudes
will believe the values of these two groups are more similar. Sniderman
and Hagan (1985) argue that whites' believe that racial
inequalities are no longer the issue but instead racial attitudes should
be observed in reference to an adherence to values such as
individualism. These scholars assert that whites are more interested in
values that promote egalitarianism. If Whites believe that middle class
Blacks possess these same values then they will agree that middle class
Blacks are more similar to them than lower class Blacks who may not
espouse or embrace the values of individualism and less government
intervention.
INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
We anticipate that a number of respondents' characteristics,
including political orientations, identity, experiences, and resources,
may shape their post-racial attitudes. First, we examine the impact of
Americans' racial identity on their post-racial attitudes.
Throughout our analyses, we anticipate that Anglos will more frequently
express post-racial attitudes, compared with African Americans. We base
this expectation upon previous research, which indicates that whites
tend to less frequently perceive race as a significant challenge in
society (compared with blacks). As Kinder and Sanders put it:
Whites tend to think that racial discrimination is no longer a
problem; that prejudice has withered away; that the real worry these
days is reverse discrimination, penalizing innocent whites for the sins
of the distant past. Meanwhile, blacks see racial discrimination as
ubiquitous; they think of prejudice as a plague; they say that racial
discrimination, not affirmative action, is still the rule in American
society." (Kinder and Sanders, 1996, 287)
Similarly, we anticipate that whites are more likely to believe
discrimination and race-based voting are a thing of the past, compared
with their African American peers. To test this hypothesis, we include a
binary variable for race (1 = white, 0-black).
We further anticipate that attitudes towards African Americans and
social experiences will influence respondents' attitudes about the
persistence of racism in the United States. First, we anticipate that
negative affect towards African Americans may be related to a belief
about the role of race in society. Affect towards blacks has been found
in the past to shape racial attitudes (Tarman and Sears 2005) and may
exert a differential impact on our post-racial attitudes here. On the
one hand, respondents who report higher opinions of African Americans
may be more aware and/or sympathetic to the challenges African Americans
face with regard to discrimination. Conversely, positive affect towards
African Americans may result in fewer perceived disparities in white and
black values, and a belief that race won't make a difference for
Obama in the 2008 election. Attitudes towards African Americans is
measured relying on a question asking respondents about their overall
opinion of blacks (0 = Very unfavorable, 3 = Very favorable.
Social integration may also impact respondents' willingness to
express post-racial attitudes. Again, these experiences may exert a
differential impact on post-racial attitudes. Contact with members of
other racial and ethnic groups may increase awareness of discrimination,
while simultaneously positively impacting the extent to which
respondents believe race is not a factor in political decision-making
and whites and blacks share similar values.
Based on previous research, we further expect that political
orientations will significantly shape post-racial attitudes among
respondents. Political ideology and party attachment are frequently
included in examinations of racial attitudes and have been found in the
past (e.g.; Sears, Henry and Kosterman 2000) to shape racial attitudes
among whites. We attempt to capture political orientations, relying on
two measures. The analyses include measures of party attachment (1 =
Republican, 2 = Independent, 3 = Democrat), and political ideology (1 =
Very conservative, 2 = Conservative, 3 = Moderate, 4 = Liberal, 5 = Very
Liberal).
Finally, a number of demographic characteristics often found to
influence racial attitudes (e.g.; Hutchings 2009; Tarman and Sears
2005), including age, education (1 = College education, 0 = No college),
income and gender (1 = Female, 0=Male), are included in the models.
Income captures family income ranging from less than $10,000 per year
through over $150,000 per year.
RESULTS
First, we examine the presence of post-racial attitudes among
Anglos and African Americans. Table 1 shows the distribution of the
three dependent variables and the differences among blacks and whites in
their support for these attitudes. First, we can see that the
respondents' mean measure on the discrimination scale is 2.28,
indicating that, on average, respondents believed blacks were
discriminated against 'hardly ever' or 'not too
often' in over 2 of the 4 circumstances described (housing,
education, employment, shopping). Among our remaining measures of
postracialism, we can see that attitudes about whites and blacks'
values becoming more similar are the most prevalent, with 64% of
respondents agreeing. In contrast less than 50% of respondents believed
Obama's race would not matter to voters if he were the Democratic
nominee in 2008.
Next, we examine racial differences, finding a notable divide among
blacks and whites in their expression of post-racial attitudes. On a
scale of 0-4 (4 = Most post racial response), we see whites'
average score is more than twice that of black respondents,
demonstrating the significant difference among members of these groups
in the extent to which blacks face continual discrimination in their
daily lives. Turning to our next measure of post-racialism--a question
asking respondents whether they believe Obama's race would make a
difference in the 2008 election, we can see that over 50% of white
respondents believed Obama's race would be of little consequence in
the election, compared with approximately 36% of blacks. Finally, the
data indicates a significant divide among whites and blacks on our final
measure of post-racialism-whether white and black values have become
more similar over the last 10 years. 70% of whites answered in the
affirmative for this question, compared to 55% of blacks. These
descriptive statistics further demonstrate the previous arguments that
racial attitudes among blacks and whites differ. Furthermore, these
results also show whites are asserting more post racial attitudes than
blacks.
While these descriptive statistics give us some indicator of the
distribution of post-racial attitudes among Whites and Blacks, to
examine them controlling for other variables known to influence racial
attitudes, we turn now to our multivariate analyses.
MULTIVARIATE MODELS
We ran three models predicting our measures of post-racial
attitudes. Models I and III (examining beliefs about the persistence of
discrimination, and about whites' and blacks' values becoming
more similar, respectively) rely on ordered logistic regression, while
Model II is a logistic regression predicting the likelihood that
respondents believe Obama's race will not make a difference to
voters during the 2008 election. Across the models, two sets of results
are reported. The first column in each model reports the logistic
coefficients with the standard errors in parenthesis and the second set
of results reports the average change across the dependent variable,
given a fixed change in the independent variable from its minimum to its
maximum value, holding all other variables constant at their means (Long
and Freese 2006).
The results reported throughout models I-III reveal that,
controlling for the other variables in the model, Americans' racial
identity consistently influences the extent to which they hold
post-racial attitudes. Specifically, being white (rather than black)
significantly and positively increased respondents' likelihood of
believing discrimination was rare, that race would not make a difference
in the 2008 presidential election, and that the values of whites and
blacks have become more similar. These results indicate a clear division
among blacks and whites in the extent to which they believe race to be a
defining cleavage in American society, particularly in the extent to
which they believe race to be a significant challenge blacks need
overcome in seeking political office, education, housing, and
employment. Whites further appear more likely to believe that
black-white differences in values have declined in recent years. Thus,
Whites believe William Wilson's (1978) assertions that class not
race is the most significant division within America. If indeed class,
not race is the defining cleavage in America, there must still be
consideration of the fact that class issues are often tied to racial
issues. Blacks today remain at a substantial disadvantage by most
standard indicators (Sears et al. 2000). Statistics show that compared
with Whites, Blacks suffer disproportionately from unemployment,
poverty, inferior educational opportunities, and poor health care (Shaw
1993). All of these are associated with class, but how can we separate
class from race, when most class issues disproportionately affect one
race over another? The situation of Blacks in America is complex, and
there are no easy answers. With these consistent differences, it is no
surprise that Blacks consistently perceive more discrimination and less
equal opportunity than do Whites (Sears et al., 2000). Even when only
considering issues of class, racial concerns still arise. What we may be
seeing is that it is simply easier to take explicit racial concerns out
of the equation, but due to the connectedness of racial and class issues
in America, it becomes more and more difficult to escape cleavages based
on race, even when only considering class.
In addition to racial and ethnic identity, social integration
exerts a consistent and positive impact on all three measures of
post-racialism. Contrary to our expectations, those with more diverse
groups of friends less often express concern over discrimination.
Initially, we reasoned those with diverse friends would perceive more
discrimination from the experiences their friends would describe.
However, we cannot conclude this as accurate. We found that views of
discrimination do not increase because of an increase in a diverse group
of friends. Furthermore, the results indicate that respondents who
socialize with a more racially diverse group are more likely to believe
that race will not make a difference for Obama in the 2008 election, and
that the values of whites and blacks in America have become more
similar. To further examine the impact of these social experiences on
post-racial attitudes, the differences in the dependent variables among
respondents with diverse and non-diverse social groups were examined
(results reported in Table 3). Difference of means tests reveal
significant variation among these groups in two out of the three
variables (discrimination and black/white values).
The results presented in the first three models also indicate that
political orientations, namely party attachment and political ideology,
impact attitudes about discrimination. Democrats and liberals are less
likely to believe that discrimination is not a significant problem in
the United States. However, these orientations show no significant
impact on our other measures of post-racial attitudes. Several of the
control variables also exert a significant impact on post-racial
feelings among respondents. Age negatively impacts attitudes about the
role of Obama's race in the 2008 election, and favorability towards
blacks increases the likelihood that respondents believe that black and
white values have become more similar. Finally, education negatively and
significantly impacts the likelihood that respondents' believed
Obama's race would make a difference in the 2008 election.
CONCLUSION
In 2008 it was realized that race relations in this country had
improved, but had not moved toward the racial progression that was
expected due to the candidacy and election of an African American for
the office of President. The hope for this country was that it had moved
on to become the racial melting pot in which everyone was seen as being
equal and everyone could be afforded the same opportunity if they worked
as hard as their racial counterpart.
However, what has been revealed in the research since Obama became
president and even during his candidacy is that maybe our racial melting
pot is not hot enough. Research reveals that as we move forward in this
country and make strides toward racial solidarity, the old adages about
race still linger in the hearts and minds of Americans across the
country, both white and black.
Currently, there still continues to be marked differences between
the opinions of Blacks and Whites. According to Hutchings and Valentino
(2004) differences in opinion between Blacks and White are not small. In
fact, differences of over 20% exist on policies, including nonracial
ones (general government spending on social services, education, and
assistance for the poor). Surveys show that Black Americans disagree
with white Americans about whether the economic situation has improved
for Blacks, whether there are more opportunities now, whether
competition for jobs is fairly handled, and whether racism in this
country has decreased (Shaw 1993). More recently we have observed a
division in political attitudes among whites and Blacks in reference to
the involvement of the government in the flooding of New Orleans during
Hurricane Katrina and the views that then Senator Barack Obama's
race would not be a factor in his candidacy for president. Similarly, we
find that those who have a more diverse group of friends and those whose
social interactions are multicultural are less likely to exhibit racist
attitudes toward his or her white or black counterparts. Finally, more
whites think that they have more values in common with blacks than
blacks believe they have in common with whites. However, values is a
broad category so we are unable to draw specific conclusions from this
comment other than to state that whites feel they share more
similarities with Blacks than in the past.
Current events have demonstrated that racial prejudice and
discrimination are not over. And, as the country continues on its path
toward the equalization of all races in this country, it cannot afford
to continue to think that the traditional ways of thinking about race
will get them to the end of the road because ultimately, it will
continue to lead to a dead end.
Lakeyta M. Bonnette
Georgia State University
Sarah M. Gershon
Georgia State University
Precious D. Hall
Truckee Meadows Community College
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APPENDIX 1: VARIABLES & MEASURES
Dependent Variables:
* Discrimination Scale: "How often do you think blacks are
discriminated against when they[ Apply for a job/Try to rent an
apartment or find a house to buy/Apply to a college or university/Eat at
restaurants and shop in retail stores] - almost always, frequently, not
too often, or hardly ever?" (1 = Hardly ever or Not too often, 0 =
frequently or=Almost always) * Responses summed to create a scale in
which 4 indicates a post-racial response to all 4 questions.
* Obama's Race Won't Make a Difference: If Barack is the
Democratic Party nominee for president, do you think his being
African-American will help him, hurt him, or won't it make a
difference to voters? (1 = Won't make a difference, 0=Race will
help or hurt him).
* White and Black Values (past 10 years): "Now thinking about
people's VALUES. By values I mean things that people view as
important, or their general way of thinking. First, in the last ten
years do you think the values held by black people and the values held
by white people have become more similar or more different?" (1 =
More similar, 0 = No change, -1 = More different).
Independent Variables:
* White: (1 = White, 0=Black)
* Age: "What is your age" (years)
* Education: "What is the last grade or class that you
completed in school?" (1 = college graduate, 0= non-college
graduate)
* Income: "Last year, that is in 2006, what was your total
family income from all sources, before taxes? Just stop me when I get to
the right category." (1 = Less than $10,000, 2 = 10 to under
$20,000, 3 = 20 to under $30,000, 4= 30 to under $40,000, 5= 40 to under
$50,000, 6 = 50 to under $75,000, 1- 75 to under $100,000, 8=100 to
under $150,000, 9 = $150,000 or more."
* Party Attachment: "In politics TODAY, do you consider
yourself a Republican, Democrat, or Independent?" (1 = Republican,
2 = Independent, 3 = Democrat).
* Ideology: "In general, would you describe your political
views as (1 = Very conservative, 2 = Conservative, 3 = Moderate, 4 =
Liberal, 5 = Very liberal).
* Female: (1 = Female, 0 = Male)
* Social Integration: "Do you yourself know any person [of
another race] whom you consider a friend?" (0 = no friends of a
different race, 1 = friend of a different race)
* Black Favorability: "Is your overall opinion of Blacks very
favorable, mostly favorable, mostly unfavorable, or very
unfavorable?" (3 = very favorable, 2 = mostly favorable, 1 = mostly
unfavorable, 0 = very unfavorable).
(1) http://www.nbcnews.eom/id/27738018/#.UxDJ-8go7IX
(2) Ibid
(3) The "Racial Attitudes in America" survey was
collected from September 5-October 6, 2007. The sample was drawn using
random digit dialing (to ensure the oversample of African Americans and
Hispanics, the survey disproportionately drew from area codes with
higher densities of racial and ethnic minorities). The margin of error
for Anglos is 3.5, and 4 points for African Americans.
(4) See Appendix I for a complete discussion of all the measures
and coding used.
TABLE 1: GROUP DIFFERENCES IN POST-RACIAL ATTITUDES
Average score of Obama's Race White and Black
Discrimination Won't Make a Values have
Scale (ab) Difference become more
(percent similar
agreeing) (ab) (percent
agreeing) (a)
Race
Whites 2.86 84% 56%
Blacks 1.40 61% 36%
Social Integration
Diversity 2.34 76% 48%
No Diversity 1.91 63% 43%
(a) Differences among blacks and whites are statistically
significant (p<.01).
(b) Differences among respondents with racially diverse
friends and those without are statistically significant
(p<.01)
Differences in groups means calculated using Analysis of
variance (ANOVA) tests. All p-values are based on two-tailed
tests.
N = 2540.
TABLE 2: MULTIVARIATE MODELS EXAMINING POST-RACIAL ATTITUDES
Model I: Ordered Logistic
Regression: Discrimination is
Rare
Coefficients Min-Max
(S.E.)
White 1.73(.110) ** .162
Age -.002(.002) .019
Education -.064(.097) .006
Income .041(.020) .032
Party Attachment -.028(.065) ** .055
Ideology -.143(.046) ** .056
Female -,143(.090) .014
Social Integration .375(.132) ** .037
Black Favorability -.081(.069) .024
Constant
[chi] 542.19 **
N 1786
Model II: Logistic Regression:
Obama's Race Won't Make a
Difference
Coefficients Min-Max
(S.E.)
White .786(.124) ** .191
Age .012(.003) ** .251
Education -.343(.114) ** -.084
Income .032(.024) .064
Party Attachment -.046(.077) -.023
Ideology -.087(.055) -.086
Female .091(.104) .022
Social Integration .382(.161) * .093
Black Favorability .034(.082) .025
Constant
[chi] 103.84 **
N 1656
Model III: Ordered Logistic
Regression: White and Black
Values have become more
similar
Coefficients Min-Max
(S.E.)
White 1.16(.136) ** .158
Age .001(.003) .014
Education .068(.127) .008
Income .014(.026) .014
Party Attachment -.012(.087) .003
Ideology .100(.058) .052
Female ,060(.115) .008
Social Integration .465(.160) ** .066
Black Favorability .327(.087) ** .141
Constant
[chi] 136.20 **
N 1681
Note: * p<.05, ** p<.01. All p-values are based
on two-tailed tests
TABLE 3: POST-RACIAL ATTITUDES BY SOCIAL GROUP DIVERSITY
Average Obama's White
score of Race Won't and Black
Discrimination Make a Values have
Scale (a) Difference become more
(percent similar (percent
agreeing) (a) agreeing) (a)
Diverse 2.34 48% 71%
Social Group
Non-Diverse 1.91 43% 59%
Social Group
(a) Differences among respondents with racially diverse friends
and those without are statistically significant (p<.01)
Differences in groups means calculated using Analysis of variance
(ANOVA) tests. All p-values are based on two-tailed tests.
