Still Separate and Still Not Equal: Norms and Attitudes towards White-Black Transracial Families

• In Event: 130 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 10. Transracial Families

Abstract

White-black intimate relationships – like those between close friends, parents and children, and romantic partners – remain highly segregated. Building on existing theory and research, we use the case of transracial adoption to better understand the segregation of intimate relationships. We show how the structure of race relations reinforces negative attitudes toward integration in the family, and color-blind mandates affect people’s willingness to express those attitudes. We use experimental methods to manipulate one kind of situational cue -- family racial composition -- and obtain measures of participants’ racial attitudes and attitudes towards transracial families. We find that participants have more negative attitudes towards transracial than monoracial families, that those negative attitudes have both a hierarchical dimension (reflecting patterns of inequality) and a difference dimension (reflecting patterns of segregation), and that those attitudes vary with situational cues. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.

Authors

• Justine Eatenson Tinkler, University of Georgia

• Christine Horne, Washington State University