Symbolic racism comprises four coherent belief themes

Evidence

The concept of symbolic racism has evolved over time with accumulated evidence. In recent years, it has been conceptualized and measured in terms of four themes: (a) the denial of discrimination, (b) criticism of Blacks’ work ethic, (c) resentment of Blacks’ demands, and (d) resentment of unfair advantages given to Blacks by the broader society (Henry & Sears, 2002). Typical items include “If blacks would only try harder, they could be as well off as whites,” and “Blacks are getting too demanding for equal rights.” These are usually interpreted as sincere beliefs rather than as efforts to cloak underlying prejudice. Empirical evidence confirms that these four themes together form a logically, psychologically, and statistically coherent belief system (Tarman & Sears, in press). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2178

Categorization

• DEFINE: Concise operational definition of symbolic racism’s four measured themes with example survey items.
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 2178
• XREF: connects to: Symbolic racism is defined as a four-theme belief system about racial disadvantage and demands — Christopher Tarman and David O. Sears, The Conceptualization and Measurement…, 16; Early and recent symbolic racism studies both measured the same four themes — Christopher Tarman and David O. Sears, The Conceptualization and Measurement…, 17; Symbolic racism may decompose into separate attitude factors rather than one coherent belief system — Christopher Tarman and David O. Sears, The Conceptualization and Measurement…, 22 (+1 more)