Symbolic racism may coexist comfortably with stated belief in equal opportunity

Evidence

Do the “new racisms” produce a more contemporary form of inner conflict with the consensual support for group equality? That was the view taken nearly two decades ago by McConahay (1986), although not tested empirically. On the other hand, it is possible that the new racisms are not widely perceived as conflicting with equal treatment. That is, there may be little conflict between believing in equal opportunity for all groups and believing that Blacks, because of their own lack of effort, are simply not performing at a level that would allow them to take advantage of it. Therefore, there may be little moral uneasiness in symbolic racism. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2186

Categorization

• QUESTION: This is the chapter’s open empirical question — whether new racisms produce inner moral conflict. Worth checking the empirical resolution in later chapters.
• XREF: connects to: Most whites endorse new symbolic racism beliefs while rejecting old-fashioned racism — Christopher Tarman and David O. Sears, The Conceptualization and Measurement…, 41; Different racism constructs predict political outcomes unequally — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 3616; An individual’s microsystems often deliver mutually conflicting racial acceptance and rejection messages. — Tatiana I. Zamora and Amado M. Padilla, Making sense of conflicting messages of…, 131