Racial Attitudes from Policy to Protest

Session Submission Type: Virtual Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel addresses how race shapes attitudes and behavior about issues from policies to protests in the United States. Chudy analyzes how white racial sympathy affects support for racial justice initiatives and argues that political and media elites can direct the mass public and activists to see the systemic nature of racial injustice and prioritize institutional reforms in their activism. Mikkelborg manipulates the salience of white identity to test the dual-forms theory and evaluate its implications for polarization on racial policy preferences among whites. Similarly, Cole examines how variations in white identification shape attitudes about protests and racial justice initiatives. Finally, Phoenix addresses how anger and pride shape political engagement and attitudes about protest politics especially among Americans of color. Taken together, these papers show how a complex constellation of racial attitudes in the United States is consequential not only for how Americans think about policies, but for how they engage with politics.

Sub Unit

• Division 32: Race, Ethnicity, and Politics

Individual Presentations

• Think Structurally, Act Individually?: The Limits of Racial Sympathy - Jennifer Chudy, Wellesley College

• How White Identification Shapes Support for Racial Justice Protest and Policy - Geneva Cole, University of Chicago

• The Effects of Race, Anger and Pride on Political Activity and Protest Support - Davin Lanier Phoenix, University of California, Irvine

Chair

• Candis Watts Smith Duke University

Discussants

• Angela Ximena Ocampo University of Michigan

• Candis Watts Smith Duke University