How Party Cues Shape Americans’ Understanding of Institutional Racism (Pre-Recorded)

• In Event: Cross-Racial Solidarity and Linked Fate

Abstract

A substantial amount of scholarly research has been devoted to understanding the effects of racism. However, we know far less about how people come to their beliefs about what does and does not constitute racism in the first place—particularly when it comes to the hotly contested concept of systemic racism. In three party cueing experiments, the last of which was pre-registered, we asked partisans to evaluate scenarios indicative of institutional racism under either Republican or Democratic partisan government. Descriptive results show significant partisan division over what people consider to be racist: Republicans consistently expressed narrower understandings of systemic racism, while Democrats consistently expressed broader understandings. However, our experimental results show that these divisions are not immutable. We find that party cues can influence whether or not partisans label systemic racial inequities as examples of racism. Partisans whose racial views conflict with their party are most influenced by partisan cues in their understanding of systemic racism. Our third study attempts to replicate these findings on a more representative sample.

Authors

• Antoine J. Banks, University of Maryland

• Eric Groenendyk, University of Memphis

• Alauna Safarpour, Harvard University