Symbolic racism now dominates older forms of racial prejudice in American politics

Evidence

Our second major goal was to test the hypothesis that symbolic racism is a considerably stronger political force in contemporary America than are other, more traditional indicators of racial prejudice. This case, too, we believe has been made quite strongly in our data. In bivariate correlations or in regression analyses, symbolic racism dominates while stereotypes and old-fashioned racism have little residual effect. Nor does prowhite loyalty play a significant role in opposition to racial policies. Other researchers’ reports in the published literature of weak effects of racial attitudes have arisen, we believe, because they have been looking in the wrong place for them. This is not to say that antiblack affect and traditional racial stereotypes (or even pockets of old-fashioned racism) no longer exist. But they no longer have the political strength that symbolic racism has. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3742

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies that ‘symbolic racism’ means a quasi-ideological form of racial antagonism distinct from overt stereotypes or old-fashioned racism, and politically wieldier.
• XREF: connects to: Trump-era racism was more overt than anything since the civil rights era; White politicians shifted from racial slurs to coded language after civil rights — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian…, 89