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Masks and racial stereotypes in a pandemic: the case for surgical masks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2021

Leah Christiani ,
Christopher J. Clark ,
Steven Greene ,
Marc J. Hetherington  and
Emily M. Wager Open the ORCID record for Emily M. Wager [Opens in a new window]
Leah Christiani
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
Christopher J. Clark
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Steven Greene
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
Marc J. Hetherington*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Emily M. Wager
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: marcj@email.unc.edu.
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Abstract

To contain the spread of COVID-19, experts emphasize the importance of wearing masks. Unfortunately, this practice may put black people at elevated risk for being seen as potential threats by some Americans. In this study, we evaluate whether and how different types of masks affect perceptions of black and white male models. We find that non-black respondents perceive a black male model as more threatening and less trustworthy when he is wearing a bandana or a cloth mask than when he is not wearing his face covering—especially those respondents who score above average in racial resentment, a common measure of racial bias. When he is wearing a surgical mask, however, they do not perceive him as more threatening or less trustworthy. Further, it is not that non-black respondents find bandana and cloth masks problematic in general. In fact, the white model in our study is perceived more positively when he is wearing all types of face coverings. Although mandated mask wearing is an ostensibly race-neutral policy, our findings demonstrate the potential implications are not.

Keywords

Coronaviruspublic opinionpublic policyracial stereotyping
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , July 2022 , pp. 185 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association

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