Whites accept racial equality in principle but reject the measures that would achieve it.

Evidence

Research on racial attitudes thus increasingly presents a paradox: Although there is continuing improvement in whites’ beliefs about blacks and support for the general principles of racial equality and integration (Taylor, Sheatsley, & Greeley, 1978), there is pronounced opposition to specific policies aimed at improving the social and economic position of blacks, as well as to participation in social settings where blacks are a substantial majority (Farley, Schuman, Bianchi, Colasanto, & Hatchett, 1978; Smith, 1981). Pettigrew (1979) described this paradox as follows: “white Americans increasingly reject racial injustice in principle, but are reluctant to accept the measures necessary to eliminate the injustice” (p. 119). — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3332 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Despite the successful passage of civil rights legislation in the United States securing basic political and human rights for African Americans and other ethnic minorities, despite the fact that blatant racism is no longer acceptable in public discourse and policy debates, and despite the fact that European Americans now broadly endorse general principles of racial equality, the fact is that whites generally oppose specific policies that promote equality in actual practice. This apparent contradiction in public opinion has become known as the principle-implementation gap. It has manifested itself in a number of areas, including opposition to busing to achieve racial integration in the schools, resistance to strong enforcement of anti-discrimination laws in housing and employment, and the widespread rejection of affirmative action policies. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2626 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

At the beginning of this chapter I suggested that a core problem touched on in a broad range of social-psychologically oriented research on race is the problem of resistance to more profound forms of racial change. A loosely coherent set of attitudes and beliefs that, among other things, attributes continuing patterns of black-white inequality to the dispositional shortcomings of blacks themselves and the otherwise fair operation of the economic and political system has developed and now characterizes much of the white population. I labeled this nascent set of beliefs an ideology of bounded racial change because although it involves support for the extension of basic citizenship rights to blacks the ideology also involves vigorous opposition to change that might impose substantial burdens on whites. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3436 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: White and black Atlantans defined racial harmony in fundamentally incompatible ways. — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 492; White Christian institutions actively resisted integration even as national leaders endorsed it. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 202; Whites support racial equality in principle far more than they support policies implementing it. (+13 more)

Broader Connections

• Whites support racial equality in principle but resist the policies implementing it #corroborates (1.00) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3332
• Whites broadly endorse racial equality in principle yet reject concrete equality policies #corroborates (1.00) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2626
• White racial ideology supports formal equality while opposing burdensome change #corroborates (0.95) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3436