Contested Monuments, Representation, and Institutional Legitimacy

• In Event: Poster Session: Race, Ethnicity, and Politics

Abstract

In the past few years, we have seen demands to remove monuments or buildings memorializing leaders of the Confederate army, Christopher Columbus as well as past presidents such as Woodrow Wilson. Debates over these monuments on its face seem to reflect a very narrow issue but there are a number of consequential issues at stake such as the question whose histories matter? While on the one hand there are demands to remove these memorials on the basis of their lack of representation in these historical moments, there are others that believe these critiques are an example of an excessive public correctness and who see these demands as attempts to silence their own histories. Governments and other institutions who host these memorials must grapple with how to accommodate each position on the issue. The ultimate decision they make—to either remove or let the monument remain standing--often has implications on how the public views governmental responsiveness. This paper employs an embedded survey experiment to test perceptions of institutional legitimacy in response to controversies over contested monuments.

In a survey completed in November 2019, undergraduate students were first randomly assigned to two treatments: a description using a positive or a critical frame about the content of a statue of Theodore Roosevelt. After answering a few follow-up questions, participants were again randomly assigned to one of four treatments: participants were told of a decision to remove the statue based on a unilateral decision by the mayor or a decision reached through a deliberative process or they were told of a decision to let the statue remain in front of city hall based on a unilateral decision by the mayor or based on a decision reached through a deliberative process. This study will both test the effects of framing on somewhat ambiguous issues of racialization and the effect of the process of representation in comparison to the effect of the final policy result. In our preliminary findings, we have found strong evidence of framing effects along with an important role for the educational background of the student on affect towards the statue. Additionally, we have found mixed results for the importance of the process of representation on support or opposition to removing the statue.

Authors

• Erik Grant Hanson, University of California, Los Angeles

• Natalie Masuoka, University of California, Los Angeles