White Fright: Collective Threat as a Racialized Feeling in White Americans

• In Event: 3481 - Section on Social Psychology Refereed Roundtables (cosponsored with Section on Sociology of Emotions)
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 04. Fear and Social Status

Abstract

This study explores variation in White Americans’ experience of threat in response to challenges to their group’s position at the top of the racial hierarchy. Drawing on elements of three theories of identity and intergroup relations (i.e., Identity Theory, Social Identity Theory, and Group Position Theory), a central goal of this study is identifying who is more likely to experience threat, and what bases of identity are key in this regard. Do racial, national, and class identities shape White Americans’ perceptions of threat when reminded of slavery in America’s past? And, if so, are these identity effects robust to the inclusion of socio-demographic controls in regression models? Lastly, is the relationship between identity and threat unique or does it mirror a wider relationship between identity and emotions in general? The data were collected through an online survey-based experiment which primed respondents about African slavery in the United States, exposed them to representations of that slavery, and then asked them to answer a series of questions relating to identity, emotions, and socio-political attitudes. Results demonstrate that, when faced with reminders of slavery, feelings of threat are maximized among White Americans with stronger racial and national identities, as well as among those who identify with the lower class. These findings are discussed in relation to the current social and political climate in the United States, with an eye toward furthering our understandings of interconnections between race, identity, and intergroup relations.

Author

• Ashley Veronica Reichelmann, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University