Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-fg9bn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-04T18:04:27.567Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

UNDERSTANDING “NO SPECIAL FAVORS”

A Quantitative and Qualitative Mapping of the Meaning of Responses to the Racial Resentment Scale

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2019

Alicia D. Simmons  and
Lawrence D. Bobo
Alicia D. Simmons*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Colgate University
Lawrence D. Bobo
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University
*
*Corresponding author: Associate Professor Alicia Simmons, Department of Sociology, Colgate University, 422 Alumni Hall, Hamilton, NY, 13346. E-mail: asimmons@colgate.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite its predictive power, there is substantial debate about the attitudes measured by the racial resentment scale (RRS) and the relative weight of each. One group contends that the RRS is a valid measure of racial animus, foregrounding a basic psychological acrimony; some foreground social concerns about group status hierarchies; and yet others assert that the RRS is an invalid measure of racial enmity, instead primarily tapping non-racial principles and politics. We use a multimethod approach to address these debates, mapping the frames of reference respondents use in explaining their RRS answers. We find that the RRS fundamentally measures racial concerns and minimally taps non-racial politics. Although RRS responses reflect psychological acrimony, this orientation is substantially outweighed by social concerns about relative group position. Moreover, RRS responses substantially reflect beliefs about the relevance of race in the contemporary US and the sources of racial inequality, and values about individualism and fairness. We discuss how one of the most potent measures of present-day racial prejudice is rightly understood, and the implications for theory and research at the intersection of race and politics.

Keywords

Prejudice and DiscriminationRace/EthnicityPolitical SociologyAttitudesIntergroup Relations

Information

Type
State of the Art
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , Fall 2018 , pp. 323 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Hutchins Center for African and African American Research 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Allport, Gordon W. 1954. The Nature of Prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Blumer, Herbert (1958). Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position. Pacific Sociological Review, 1(1): 3–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobo, Lawrence D. (1983). Whites’ Opposition to Busing: Symbolic Racism or Realistic Group Conflict? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(6): 1196–1210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobo, Lawrence D. (1988). Group Conflict, Prejudice, and the Paradox of Contemporary Racial Attitudes. In Katz, P. A., and Taylor, D. A. (Eds.), Eliminating Racism: Profiles in Controversy, pp. 85–114. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobo, Lawrence D. (1999). Prejudice as Group Position: Microfoundations of a Sociological Approach to Racism and Race Relations. Journal of Social Issues, 55(3): 445–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobo, Lawrence D., and Hutchings, Vincent L. (1996). Perceptions of Racial Group Competition: Extending Blumer’s Theory of Group Position to a Multiracial Social Context. American Sociological Review, 61(6): 951–972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobo, Lawrence D., Kluegel, James R., and Smith, Ryan A. (1997). Laissez-Faire Racism: The Crystallization of a Kinder, Gentler, AntiBlack Ideology. In Tuch, S. A., and Martin, J. K. (Eds.), Racial Attitudes in the 1990s: Continuity and Change, pp. 15–42. Greenwood, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Bobo, Lawrence D., and Tuan, Mia (2006). Prejudice in Politics: Group Position, Public Opinion, and the Wisconsin Treaty Rights Dispute. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo (2006). Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Carmines, Edward G., Sniderman, Paul M., and Easter, Beth C. (2011). On the Meaning, Measurement, and Implications of Racial Resentment. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 634(1): 98–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, J. Scott, and Lippard, Cameron (2015). Group Position, Threat, and Immigration: The Role of Interest Groups and Elite Actors in Setting the “Lines of Discussion.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 1(3): 394–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charles, Camille Zubrinsky (2006). Won’t You Be My Neighbor?: Race, Class, and Residence in Los Angeles. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Denis, Jeffrey S. (2012). Transforming Meanings and Group Positions: Tactics and Framing in Anishinaabe-White Relations in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 35(3): 453–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denis, Jeffrey S. (2015). Contact Theory in a Small-Town Settler-Colonial Context: The Reproduction of Laissez-Faire Racism in Indigenous-White Canadian Relations. American Sociological Review, 80(1): 248–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doan, Long, Loehr, Annalise, and Miller, Lisa R. (2014). “Formal Rights and Informal Privileges for Same-Sex Couples: Evidence from a National Survey Experiment.” American Sociological Review, 79(6): 1172–1195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, Stanley (1988). Structure and Consistency in Public Opinion: The Role of Core Beliefs and Values. American Journal of Political Science, 32(2): 416–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, Stanley, and Huddy, Leonie (2005). Racial Resentment and White Opposition to Race Conscious Programs: Principles or Prejudice. American Journal of Political Science, 49(1): 168–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, Cybelle (2004). The Changing Color of Welfare? How Whites’ Attitudes toward Latinos Influence Support for Welfare. American Journal of Sociology, 110(3): 580–625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldsmith, Kelly, and Dhar, Ravi (2013). Negativity Bias and Task Motivation: Testing the Effectiveness of Positively versus Negatively Framed Incentives. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 19(4): 358–366.Google ScholarPubMed
Healy, Andrew, and Lenz, Gabriel S. (2013). Substituting the End for the Whole: Why Voters Respond Primarily to the Election-Year Economy. American Journal of Political Science, 58(1): 31–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henry, P. J., and Sears, David O. (2002). The Symbolic Racism 2000 Scale. Political Psychology, 23(2): 253–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henry, P. J, and Sears, David O. (2009). “The Crystallization of Contemporary Racial Prejudice across the Lifespan. Political Psychology. 30(4): 569–590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hochschild, Arlie Russell (2016). Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. New York: The New Press.Google Scholar
Hughes, Michael (1997). Symbolic Racism, Old-Fashioned Racism, and Whites’ Opposition to Affirmative Action. In Tuch, S. A., and Martin, J. K. (Eds.), Racial Attitudes in the 1990s: Continuity and Change, pp. 45–75. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
Hutchings, Vincent L., and Wong, Cara (2014). Racism, Group Position, and Attitudes about Immigration among Blacks and Whites. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 11(2): 419–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinder, Donald R., and Sanders, Lynn M. (1996). Divided by Color: Racial Politics and Democratic Ideals. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kinder, Donald R., and Sears, David O. (1981). Prejudice and Politics: Symbolic Racism Versus Racial Threats to the Good Life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40(3): 414–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreuter, Frauke, Presser, Stanley, and Tourangeau, Roger (2008). Social Desirability Bias in CATI, IVR, and Web Surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly, 72(5): 847–865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krysan, Maria (1998). Privacy and the Expression of White Racial Attitudes: A Comparison Across Three Contexts. Public Opinion Quarterly, 62(4): 506–544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krysan, Maria (1999). Qualifying a Quantifying Analysis on Racial Equality. Social Psychology Quarterly, 62(2): 211–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krysan, Maria (2000). Prejudice, Politics, and Public Opinion: Understanding the Sources of Racial Policy Attitudes. Annual Review of Sociology, 26(1): 135–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markus, Greg (1990). Measuring Popular Individualism: Memo to ANES Board of Overseers Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research. <http://www.electionstudies.org/resources/papers/documents/nes002282.pdf> (accessed August 8, 2016).+(accessed+August+8,+2016).>Google Scholar
McConahay, J. B. (1986). Modern Racism, Ambivalence, and the Modern Racism Scale. In Dovidio, J. F., and Gaertner, S. L. (Eds.), Prejudice, Discrimination and Racism, pp. 91–126. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
McEntire, Kyla Jo, Leiby, Michele, and Krain, Matthew (2015). Human Rights Organizations as Agents of Change: An Experimental Examination of Framing and Micromobilization. American Political Science Review, 109(3): 407–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendelberg, Tali (2001). The Race Card: Campaign Strategy, Implicit Messages, and the Norm of Equality. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norton, Michael I., and Sommers, Samuel R. (2011). Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game That They Are Now Losing. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(3): 215–218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pedulla, David S., and Thébaud, Sarah (2015). Can We Finish the Revolution? Gender, Work-Family Ideals, and Institutional Constraint. American Journal of Sociology, 80(1): 116–139.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pew Research Center (2017). Most Americans Say Trump’s Election Has Led to Worse Race Relations in the U.S. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. <http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/12/19140928/12-19–2017–race-relations-release.pdf> (accessed May 21, 2018).+(accessed+May+21,+2018).>Google Scholar
Ridgeway, Cecilia L. (2013). Why Status Matters for Inequality. American Sociological Review, 79(1): 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenzweig, Emily, and Gilovich, Thomas (2012). Buyer’s Remorse or Missed Opportunity? Differential Regrets for Material and Experiential Purchases. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(2): 215–223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Samson, Frank L. (2015). Asian American Attitudes towards a U.S. Citizenship Path for Illegal Immigrants: Immigration Reform as Racialised Politics. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(1): 117–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saperstein, Aliya, Penner, Andrew, and Light, Ryan (2013). Racial Formation in Perspective: Connecting Individuals, Institutions, and Power Relations. Annual Review of Sociology, 39: 359–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schuman, Howard (2000). The Perils of Correlation, the Lure of Labels, and the Beauty of Negative Results. In Sears, D. O., Sidanius, J., and Bobo, L. D. (Eds.), Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America, pp. 302–323. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Schuman, Howard, Steeh, Charlotte, Bobo, Lawrence D., and Krysan, Maria (1997). Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sears, David O. (1988). Symbolic Racism. In Katz, P. A., and Taylor, D. A. (Eds.), Eliminating Racism: Profiles in Controversy, pp. 53–84. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sears, David. O., and Henry, P. J. (2005). Over Thirty Years Later: A Contemporary Look at Symbolic Racism. In Zanna, M. P. (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, pp. 95–150. San Diego, CA: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Sidanius, Jim, Devereux, Erik, and Pratto, Felicia (1992). A Comparison of Symbolic Racism Theory and Social Dominance Theory as Explanations for Racial Policy Attitudes. Journal of Social Psychology, 32: 377–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, Alicia D., and Bobo, Lawrence D. (2015). Can Non-Full-Probability Internet Surveys Yield Useful Data? A Comparison with Full-Probability Face-to-Face Surveys in the Domain of Race and Social Inequality Attitudes. Sociological Methodology, 45(1): 1–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, A. Wade (1981). Racial Tolerance as a Function of Group Position. American Sociological Review, 46(5): 558–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Eliot R. (1993). Social Identity and Social Emotions: Towards New Conceptualizations of Prejudice. In Mackie, D., and Hamilton, D. L. (Eds.), Affect, Cognition, and Stereotyping, pp. 239–313 . San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Rogers M. (1993). Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal, and Hartz: The Multiple Traditions in America. American Political Science Review, 87(3): 549–566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sniderman, Paul M., Crosby, Gretchen C., and Howell, William G. (2000). The Politics of Race. In Sears, D. O., Sidanius, J., and Bobo, L. D. (Eds.), Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America, pp. 236–279. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sniderman, Paul M., and Carmines, Edward G. (1997). Reaching Beyond Race. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sniderman, Paul M., and Tetlock, Philip E. (1986). Symbolic Racism: Problems of Motive Attribution in Political Analysis. Journal of Social Issues, 42(2): 129–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuch, Steven A., and Hughes, Michael (1996). Whites’ Racial Policy Attitudes. Social Science Quarterly, 77(4): 723–745.Google Scholar
Tuch, Steven A., and Hughes, Michael (2011). Whites’ Racial Policy Attitudes in the Twenty-First Century: The Continuing Significance of Racial Resentment. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 634(1): 134–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valentino, Nicholas A., Neuner, Fabian G., and Matthew Vandenbroek, L. (2017). The Changing Norms of Racial Political Rhetoric and the End of Racial Priming. Journal of Politics, 80(3): 757–771.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vavreck, Lynn, and Iyengar, Shanto (2013). The Future of Political Communication Research. In Shapiro, R. Y., and Jacobs, L. R. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of American Public Opinion and the Media, pp. 156–168. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wellman, David T. (1977). Portraits of White Racism. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Williams, David R., Jackson, James S., Brown, Tony N., Forman, Tyrone A., Torres, Myriam, and Brown, Kendrick T. (2000). Traditional and Contemporary Prejudice and Urban Whites’ Support for Affirmative Action and Government Help. Social Problems, 46(4): 503–527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, David C., and Davis, Darren W. (2011). Reexamining Racial Resentment: Conceptualization and Content. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 634(1): 117–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar