Racial Identity Threats and White Democrats’ Support for Black Lives Matter

• In Event: Understanding Support for the Black Lives Matter Movement

Abstract

In recent years, observers have noted an apparent increase in racially progressive attitudes among White Democrats. Among journalists, this “great awakening” of White Democrats is practically taken as a political fact. And this media consensus is not without merit – numerous studies have shown that White Democrats have become more liberal on racial issues, especially on broad questions about discrimination and the need for racial equality.

However, what this consensus about the racial liberalism of White Democrats often overlooks is that while White Democrats have in many ways moved in line with the Democratic Party’s position on race and racial inequality, their White identity makes them vulnerable to racial identity threats. Research in social psychology has long demonstrated that information that is critical of a salient social identity — such as race — will be rejected because it is seen as harmful to an individual’s self-esteem. Applying this to the case of White Democrats, racial messaging that makes White Democrats feel badly about their Whiteness may elicit backlash – even if that messaging is in line with their broad commitment to racial equality.

In this paper, I test this potential for racial identity-driven backlash among White Democrats in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement. Numerous surveys have shown high support for the movement and its aims among White Democrats. However, I argue that White Democrats’ support for Black Lives Matter — and for the racial equity goals associated with the movement — may erode when members or protestors associated with the movement use messaging that is critical of Whiteness. This is because such messaging may harm the self-esteem of White Democrats. To test this, I use a survey experiment in which respondents are exposed to images from a Black Lives Matter protest, and I vary the messaging on the signs in the images. Across different experimental conditions, I ramp up the level of racial threat, with messages ranging from non-threatening, such as signs that say “Enough is enough” or “Black lives matter,” to explicitly threatening/critical, such as signs that say “White people created racism, White people need to destroy it.” Additionally, I hypothesize that the race of the messenger matters: racially threatening messages should be met with less backlash when coming from members of the racial in-group. I test this hypothesis by varying the racial composition of the crowd — either all White, all Black, or racially mixed. I measure how the intensity of the racial identity threat, as well as the race of the messenger, impact attitudes about the Black Lives Matter movement, politicians who support the movement, and specific policies meant to address ongoing racial inequity in America. While this study focuses on the context of Black Lives Matter, the findings emphasize more broadly that understanding the political attitudes and behaviors of an important voting bloc in American politics — White Democrats — requires looking beyond partisan expectations alone, and also grappling with the influence of Whiteness on their lives and attitudes.

Author

• Rachel Lienesch, Stanford University