Coping With Racial Discrimination With Collective Power: Differentiating the Benefits of Social Capital in Online and Offline Communication Contexts

• In Event: Who We Are is How We Talk: Predicting Interpersonal Communication Processes

Abstract

Featuring an online experiment and content analysis, this study investigates how bridging and bonding social capital in online and offline communication contexts could (a) encourage victims of racial discrimination to seek support, (b) buffer victims’ emotional distress, and (c) facilitate assertive coping behaviors. Results indicate that individuals who bridge with a wider range of interpersonal networks in face-to-face situations are more likely to seek support than those with fewer bridging ties. Bonding online buffers emotional distress only when victims perceive the prejudiced acts encountered as relatively less severe. Maintaining casual connections with diverse people offline also helps victims cope with racial discrimination assertively when supportive messages fail to fully validate and recognize their feelings. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Authors

• Fan Yang, Pennsylvania State University

• Lisa Kiyomi Hanasono