Perceived demographic shift causal threat to White status shifts policy conservatism

Evidence

Overall, in a nationally representative sample of White Americans, making the U.S. racial shift salient led to greater endorsement of conservative policies, compared with making a nonracial societal shift salient. Furthermore, these effects were mediated by participants’ concerns about the loss of Whites’ societal status. The conservative shift emerged for both racerelated and more race-neutral policies. Hence, these results offer compelling evidence that making a majorityminority racial shift salient can lead Whites to perceive that their racial group’s status is threatened and, in turn, to express greater political conservatism. — Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson, On the Precipice of a…, 40

Categorization

• XREF: Connect to threatened-privilege literature on gender proportional representation and to outgroup-population-growth perception studies in other identity axes. — connects to: Perceived racial demographic shift may push White Americans toward conservatism. — Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson, On the Precipice of a…, 1; Perceived racial demographic shifts cause a conservative shift in White Americans through group-status threat. — Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson, On the Precipice of a…, 8; Perceived threat to in-group status evokes greater political conservatism. — Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson, On the Precipice of a…, 12 (+13 more)
• QUESTION: The key cross-axis question: does the same mechanism replicate when the ‘shift’ is e.g. women entering a previously male setting, not just demographic race projections?

Related

• Demographic threat generalizes conservative shift to race-neutral policy (similarity 0.94)
• Exposure to information about racial demographic change raises Whites’ status threat and conservatism (similarity 0.93)
• Perceived racial demographic shifts cause a conservative shift in White Americans through group-status threat. (similarity 0.93)
• Perceived racial demographic shift may push White Americans toward conservatism. (similarity 0.92)
• Removing anticipatory status threat eliminates the conservative reaction to demographic shift. (similarity 0.90)
• Racial status threat may drive conservative shifts even among minorities (similarity 0.90)
• Reminding White Americans of shifting racial demographics raises their group status threat. (similarity 0.90)
• Perceived threat to in-group status evokes greater political conservatism. (similarity 0.89)
• Group-status threat is the proposed causal mediator of shift-induced conservatism. (similarity 0.89)
• Reassuring whites that status will persist can blunt the threat of demographic shift. (similarity 0.89)
• Perceived racial demographic shift raises White group status threat that drives Trump support. (similarity 0.86)
• Merely priming demographic-shift projections shifts unaffiliated voters toward conservative parties. (similarity 0.85)
• Status threat from diversity shifts whites rightward regardless of party affiliation. (similarity 0.85)
• Liberal and conservative participants responded similarly to demographic threat (similarity 0.84)
• Status-threat alleviation should cancel the shift-conservatism effect, isolating threat as the mediator. (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Exposure to information about racial demographic change raises Whites’ status threat and conservatism #corroborates (0.95) — Brenda Major and Alison Blodorn and Gregory Major Blascovich, The threat of increasing diversity, 16
• Perceived racial demographic shift raises White group status threat that drives Trump support. #corroborates (0.90) — Brenda Major and Alison Blodorn and Gregory Major Blascovich, The threat of increasing diversity, 5
• Demographic threat generalizes conservative shift to race-neutral policy #expands (0.85) — Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson, On the Precipice of a…, 90