Mortality salience shifts Whites’ racial-pride and discrimination judgments in favor of their own race.

Evidence

In 2001, Greenberg, Schimel, Martens, Pyszczynski, and Solomon, in an initial study, found that White participants viewed a White person who expressed racial pride more negatively than a Black person who did so. However, MS led the White participants to show increased liking for the White pride advocate and reduced liking for the Black pride advocate. A final study examined White participants’ evaluations of a White or Black employer who discriminated against an employee of the other race and justified his actions by claiming that his own race has been victimized by ‘massive discrimination’ in the workplace. Following MS, White participants became more sympathetic to the White bigot and less sympathetic to the Black bigot. That is, after MS, Whites became more sympathetic to Whites who ‘stood up for the White race.’ — Jeff Greenberg and Spee Kosloff, Terror Management Theory, 44

Categorization

• QUESTION: This speaks to identities framed through victimization/narrative history rather than affirmative content — directly relevant to the reader’s question about negation-only identities.
• XREF: connects to: Southern and non-Southern whites changed racial attitudes at equal rates — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 319; Dramatic political events shift racial attitudes positively even among reluctant whites; Explicit and implicit racial cues boost racial resentment equally in whites — Rachel Wetts and Robb Willer, Who Is Called by the Dog Whistle?…, 24 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Direct self-interest weakly drives Whites’ racial political behavior #complicates (0.80)
• Racial attitudes comprise a felt group position of superiority, proprietary claim, and perceived threat #corroborates (0.80) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3361
• White racial identity strengthens through contrast with minority out-groups #corroborates (0.79) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1119
• Dramatic political events shift racial attitudes positively even among reluctant whites #corroborates (0.78)
• Reported racial attitudes often diverge from actual discriminatory behavior #complicates (0.78) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2089
• Exposure to minorities increases whites’ race-based self-definition #expands (0.76)
• Southern and non-Southern whites changed racial attitudes at equal rates #qualifies (0.75) — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 319
• Explicit and implicit racial cues boost racial resentment equally in whites #expands (0.75) — Rachel Wetts and Robb Willer, Who Is Called by the Dog Whistle?…, 24
• Racial attitudes reduce to a felt sense of group position #corroborates (0.74)