An Exploration of Racial and Religious Threat Theory

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

As the diversity of the U.S. continues to increase every year, racial threat theory and religious threat theory offer potential explanations for why different groups of people may experience different levels of discrimination. Both theories, however, rely on the perceptions of others and racial, ethnic, and religious categories can often be ambiguous. The current study seeks to understand if the increasing percentage (or the perception thereof) of racial/ethnic or religious minority citizens in the U.S. will increase discrimination (i.e., racial threat theory) and how these two theories may overlap in perceptions of threat. A nationally representative sample of U.S. citizens will be surveyed via the LUCID Theorem platform for this analysis. Additionally, the conceptual “fog” that has historically plagued research into racial threat theory will be discussed and explored in this study.

Authors

• Krysta Knox, University of Cincinnati

• Brooke Marston, University of Cincinnati

• Clay Driscoll, University of Cincinnati

• Ben Feldmeyer, University of Cincinnati