Whites accept individual inequality but reject group-based inequality

Evidence

The greater support for group than individual equality is even clearer concerning differences that may affect people’s life chances. Most White Americans comfortably accept such differences among individuals. For example, in one national survey, 93 percent agreed that “Some people are better at running things and should be allowed to do so,” and 85 percent that “Some people are just better cut out than others for important positions in society” (Sears et al., 2000, p. 93). Unequal life chances are simply accepted as the way of the world. But almost all Whites feel that imposing inequalities among groups is unacceptable. When these same questions were reworded to refer to racial groups rather than to individuals, only 14 percent agreed that “some Whites are better at running things than Blacks are and should be allowed to do so” and 8 percent that “some Whites are just better cut out than Blacks for important positions in society.” That is, a broad consensus of Whites repudiates privileged access for advantaged groups. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2182

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The asymmetry between endorsing individual meritocracy (93%) and rejecting the identical statement when applied to groups (14%) is a remarkably clean empirical photograph of how Americans reconcile egalitarian values with tolerated stratification.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2182
• XREF: connects to: Internal work organization shapes income inequality independent of individual differences — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 877