The Effects of Economic Distress on Racial Attitudes

• In Event: The Politics of Racial Prejudice

Abstract

The 2016 US presidential election and the rise of populism around the world have engendered a scholarly debate as to whether this rise is due to economic anxiety or cultural threat. While we have growing research favoring the racism argument, fundamental questions remain unanswered. Why has racism become a decisive factor in recent elections? Are there contextual factors that render racism more salient in the contemporary political landscape? In this paper, I explore the impact of economic anxiety on racism and develop a theory to explain how economic anxiety induces an individual’s racism. Individuals whose living standards have stagnated over time and thus fear to lose their socioeconomic status are likely to develop stronger in-group solidarity and out-group derogation. Whites counteract economic threats by developing stronger in-group versus out-group identity. I test this theory in two different empirical settings. First, using local Chinese import exposure as an instrument to capture local economic disruption, I measure how an unexpected shock to the local economy engenders a higher level of racial resentment. Second, I run a survey experiment by priming respondents to think about financially stressful situations. Respondents primed with economic anxiety showed a higher level of racial resentment and ethnocentrism.

Author

• John Seungmin Kuk, Washington University in St. Louis