Perceived threat to in-group status evokes greater political conservatism.

Evidence

It is less clear whether more social, rather than physical, threats engender conservative shift. Initial research examining reactions to majority-minority racial demographic shifts revealed that Whites considering a future White minority perceived the shift as a threat to their racial group’s societal status, and this perception led them to express more negative racial attitudes and emotions (Craig & Richeson, in press; Outten, Schmitt, Miller, & Garcia, 2012). We propose that in addition to affecting intergroup relations, perceived threat to the societal status of one’s in-group, like other perceived threats, can engender greater political conservatism. In a study consistent with this idea, Thórisdóttir and Jost (2011) found that threats to personal well-being, their political party, or the economic system all led center-right politicians to take more conservative stances. — Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson, On the Precipice of a…, 12

Categorization

• QUESTION: Key question for the reading purpose: is the group-status→conservatism link threatened-privilege mobilization, and does the effect hinge on anticipatory status threat specifically?
• XREF: Connects to threatened-privilege mobilization research across identity axes and to the reading’s guiding hypothesis that majority-minority projections convert latent threat into ideology. — connects to: 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; Group-status threat is the proposed causal mediator of shift-induced conservatism. — Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson, On the Precipice of a…, 22; Anticipatory status threat directly shifts reported political identity toward conservatism. — Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson, On the Precipice of a…, 69 (+12 more)

Related

• Group-status threat is the proposed causal mediator of shift-induced conservatism. (similarity 0.94)
• Anticipatory status threat directly shifts reported political identity toward conservatism. (similarity 0.92)
• Removing anticipatory status threat eliminates the conservative reaction to demographic shift. (similarity 0.90)
• Perceived racial demographic shifts cause a conservative shift in White Americans through group-status threat. (similarity 0.90)
• Status-threat alleviation should cancel the shift-conservatism effect, isolating threat as the mediator. (similarity 0.90)
• Racial status threat may drive conservative shifts even among minorities (similarity 0.89)
• Perceived demographic shift causal threat to White status shifts policy conservatism (similarity 0.89)
• Exposure to information about racial demographic change raises Whites’ status threat and conservatism (similarity 0.88)
• Demographic threat generalizes conservative shift to race-neutral policy (similarity 0.87)
• Threats can produce targeted or generalized conservative shifts depending on type (similarity 0.87)
• Reminding White Americans of shifting racial demographics raises their group status threat. (similarity 0.85)
• Perceived racial demographic shift may push White Americans toward conservatism. (similarity 0.85)
• Reassuring whites that status will persist can blunt the threat of demographic shift. (similarity 0.84)
• Anticipated status loss decades away still shifts politics right (similarity 0.83)
• Liberal and conservative participants responded similarly to demographic threat (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Group-status threat is the proposed causal mediator of shift-induced conservatism. #corroborates (0.95) — Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson, On the Precipice of a…, 22
• Anticipatory status threat directly shifts reported political identity toward conservatism. #expands (0.90) — Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson, On the Precipice of a…, 69
• Perceived demographic shift causal threat to White status shifts policy conservatism #corroborates (0.90) — Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson, On the Precipice of a…, 40
• Dominant groups also suffer insecurity when their status seems threatened #corroborates (0.85)
• Racial status threat may drive conservative shifts even among minorities #corroborates (0.75) — Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson, On the Precipice of a…, 94
• Subtle racial attitudes stem from structural inequality plus perceived group threat #expands (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3437
• Electing a perceived strong leader itself lowers threat perception among slumping authoritarians #complicates (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 843