Many white Australians believe they are more disadvantaged than Indigenous peoples

Evidence

Indeed, an Australian survey conducted by Pederson et al. (2001, cited in Iyer, Leach, & Pedersen, this volume, Chapter 14), found that 44 percent of their non-Indigenous respondents were more likely to perceive themselves, rather than Indigenous peoples, as disadvantaged. An analysis of open-ended responses provided by this sample indicated that some respondents complained of “reverse racism.” — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1648

In a recent study, McGarty et al. (2002, Study 1) found that group-based guilt is infrequent among the non-Indigenous residents of Perth, Western Australia. Indeed, only 14 percent of the sample expressed explicit agreement with questions assessing guilt regarding inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. These low levels of guilt appear due to the fact that very few non-Indigenous people believe that the Indigenous are, in fact, disadvantaged. Thus, less than half of the respondents (36 percent) perceived Indigenous Australians to be disadvantaged relative to non-indigenous Australians. Much more prominent is the belief that Indigenous people have an unfair advantage over other Australians. In fact, nearly half of McGarty et al.’s (2002) White respondents (44 percent) saw themselves as disadvantaged compared to Indigenous people. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1840

Categorization

• XREF: Directly corroborates and quantifies the earlier chapter-17 claim that many white Australians believe they are more disadvantaged than Indigenous peoples. — connects to: Perceived illegitimacy of advantage triggers dominant-group hostility — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 807; Opponents framed Indigenous Australians as overcompensated welfare recipients — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1656; Whites now perceive anti-White bias as exceeding anti-Black bias — Michael I. Norton and Samuel R. Sommers, Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game…, 3 (+1 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1648; Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1840

Broader Connections

• Whites believe racial progress has overshot equality into anti-White bias. #corroborates (0.90) — Michael I. Norton and Samuel R. Sommers, Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game…, 24
• Whites now perceive anti-White bias as exceeding anti-Black bias #corroborates (0.85) — Michael I. Norton and Samuel R. Sommers, Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game…, 3