Browsing by Author "Culver, Julian L"

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    When and Why Racial Attitudes Change: Presidential Elections, Politicians, and Racial Exemplars
    (2022-09-28) Culver, Julian L; Brown, Tony N
    One of sociology’s central interests is in the relationship between groups and society. Particularly, there is a precedent for sociologists questioning and theorizing groups’ response to sociopolitical shifts. Shifts including global pandemics, foreign and civil wars, and even presidential elections can change individuals’ attitudes of themselves, other individuals and groups, and the social worlds they inhabit. But for some we know little about when and why their attitudes change. Specifically, studies provide little evidence of how sociopolitical shifts changes blacks’ and Hispanics’ racial attitudes. This crucial limitation is due largely to the absence of panel survey data allowing researchers to investigate racial attitude change among nationally representative samples of blacks and Hispanics. Therefore, this dissertation project investigates how sociopolitical shifts associates with blacks’ and Hispanics’ racial attitude change. Most studies favor micro-level predictors of racial attitudes such as interracial contact, gender, or political orientation, but neglect macro-level sociopolitical shifts including presidential elections. In addition, studies tend to focus on whites’ racial attitudes, and care more about correlates of racial attitudes and far less about when and why they change. When studies include non-whites, they rely often on cross-sectional and convenient samples thus, limiting generalizability. To fill this void, I investigate the impact of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election on blacks’ and Hispanics’ racial attitudes. I analyze nationally representative panel survey data from the 2008-2009 National Annenberg Election Study (NAES08-Online) to investigate the relationship between sociopolitical shifts and racial attitude change. I test two theories explaining when and why blacks’ and Hispanics’ racial attitudes change. Symbolic empowerment theory proposes members of marginalized groups feel empowered when an individual leading a sociopolitical shift represents them descriptively. Group threat theory proposes certain groups feel displaced when the balance of political and economic power changes. I address six research questions: (1) Do blacks’ and Hispanics’ negative stereotype ratings of blacks change after Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election? (2) Do blacks’ negative stereotype ratings of blacks relative to whites, and Hispanics’ negative stereotype ratings of Hispanics relative to blacks, change after Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election? (3) And do changes in negative stereotype ratings of blacks differ by age, sex, education, household income, political orientation, and region? (4) Do blacks’ favorable ratings of Barack Obama predict reductions in their negative stereotype ratings of blacks and their negative stereotype ratings of blacks relative to whites? (5) Does Hispanics’ racial favoritism (i.e., agreement black elected officials’ show favoritism toward the black community) predict increases in their negative stereotype ratings of blacks? (6) Finally, does Hispanics’ racial favoritism predict reductions in negative stereotype ratings of Hispanics relative to blacks. I find first blacks’ and Hispanics’ report increases in negative stereotype ratings of blacks after Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election. Further, blacks’ rate blacks less stereotypical than whites, and Hispanics’ rate Hispanics less stereotypical than blacks after Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election. Negative stereotype ratings of blacks vary by sex, education, and political orientation. Second, I find support for symbolic empowerment theory. Specifically, favorable ratings of Barack Obama predict decreases in ratings of blacks’ unintelligence. Further, favorable ratings of Barack Obama predict higher intelligence ratings of blacks relative to whites and decreases in a summation of three negative stereotype ratings of blacks relative to whites. Sensitivity analyses confirm findings and indicate symbolic empowerment related to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election was specific to blacks’ racial attitude change. Third, I find support for group threat theory. Specifically, racial favoritism predicts increases in ratings of blacks’ laziness, untrustworthiness, and in a summation of three negative stereotype ratings of blacks after Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election. Further, racial favoritism predicts higher work ethic and trustworthiness ratings of Hispanics relative to blacks. Racial favoritism also predicts decreases in a summation of three negative stereotype ratings of Hispanics relative to blacks. Sensitivity analyses confirm findings but indicate racial favoritism is not unique to Hispanics. Rather, sociopolitical shifts can generate negative outgroup attitudes generally when individuals’ fear political and economic displacement. There are three broad takeaways from this dissertation project. First, sociopolitical shifts can generate racial attitude change. Specifically, presidential elections and similar events influence how individuals’ view their racial group and others. Second, members of marginalized groups feel empowered when an individual leading a sociopolitical shift represents them descriptively. Sociopolitical shifts where a progressive redistribution of power seems possible can increase self-worth and group status simultaneously. Third, racial favoritism is an important and understudied component exacerbating intergroup hostility between blacks and Hispanics, and may also exacerbate intergroup hostility for other groups. To close, because racial attitudes are a core topic in sociology, it is crucial to investigate when and why they change.