White racial identity strengthens through contrast with minority out-groups

Evidence

That is, when people do engage in affirmational identification (“I am white”), to what extent does their definition of this identity incorporate contrast from an out-group? Research on white racial identity indicates that whites are more likely to define themselves in terms of their race if they had a high level of exposure to non-whites while growing up (Knowles & Peng, 2005). This implies that identification with the white in-group depends, at least to some extent, on contrast from racial minorities. For white supremacists, out-groups may be so salient that their ingroup is partly defined by out-groups; not being black, Jewish, or Asian may be considered a core part of what it means to be white. Thus, the identity of white supremacists may be fundamentally linked to the identity of minority groups. This observation of interdependence between the identities of white supremacists and their out-groups has been made by Leets (2001, p. 290): “white supremacists’ racial, religious and sexual orientations represent a classic dichotomization of others as ‘not us.’ ” Whites who are not white supremacists may be less likely to perceive a dichotomy between their racial in-group and out-groups. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1119

Categorization

• XREF: Directly extends the ingroup/outgroup mechanism thread from the Allport reassessment — exposure-based contrast defining ingroup identity. — connects to: In-group familial identity is built on negating the racial other — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 68; Mortality salience shifts Whites’ racial-pride and discrimination judgments in favor of their own race. — Jeff Greenberg and Spee Kosloff, Terror Management Theory: Implications…, 44; Multiple distinct motives drive racial-ethnic group identification. — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 68
• ADDENDUM: Supports the mechanism of identity being partly constituted by negation of an outgroup (‘us’ as ‘not them’), relevant to how signaled antipathy toward Muslim/Jewish outgroups functions.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1119