American egalitarian creeds clash with prejudice to produce chronic moral unease
Evidence
Because people are forced to follow a contradictory set of internalized rules about how to think, feel, and behave, it can be difficult for people to know what to do. Conformity to social norms about treatment of ethnic groups leads to prejudice in some cases but antiprejudice in others. Because most Americans conform in various situations to both norms, they feel the conflict (Devine, ch. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1904 (
#expands, via linked claim)
It’s not typically the case that Americans express their racial views as forcefully as this guy from New Jersey. We’ve reached a point in this country where we usually hide how we really think. It’s a cultural norm to openly express a commitment to racial equality. So Americans have developed the habit of masking. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 160 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: American culture simultaneously preaches equality and demands competition to be unequal.; Egalitarian values clash internally with prejudice, producing conflicted rather than pure attitudes.; Fear serves as another recurring justification for discrimination in U.S. history (+13 more)
Broader Connections
- Americans internalize contradictory prejudice and egalitarian norms and feel the conflict
#expands(0.95) - Conflicting pro-equality and anti-equality norms make Americans feel genuine internal conflict
#expands(0.92) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1904 - Americans habitually mask racial views behind expressed commitment to equality
#complicates(0.80) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 160 - Local subgroup norms, not national culture, sustain prejudice in the US
#complicates(0.76) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1911 - Avowals of egalitarianism signal hidden prejudice even under conservative tests
#complicates(0.75) — Drew S. Jacoby-Senghor and Michael Rosenblum and N. Derek Brown, Not all egalitarianism is created equal, 87