Symbolic racism research standardizes measures around four or five recurring themes.

Evidence

We rely on the measures of symbolic racism used most often in previous studies. All items refer explicitly to “blacks” (except in one case, to “civil rights leaders”) as well as incorporating one of the following standard themes. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3625

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines what symbolic racism scales actually measure via their standard item themes.
• 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