Linking White Identity and Racial Attitudes: A Test of Hegemonic Whiteness Theory

• In Event: 130 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Racial and Ethnic Attitudes

Abstract

The vast majority of sociological research on white identity analyzes whites’ “sense of group position” relative to nonwhite groups; a focus on whites’ divergent ideological orientation and clustering, and; the investigation of negative racial attitudes as proxies for the measurement of white racial identity. We depart from this approach by drawing from Blumer’s (1958) theory of group position, which asserts that both prejudicial attitudes toward the out-group and positive views toward the white in-group function to bolster white racial identity, recent scholarship on the relationship between racial attitudes and white racial identity, and “Hegemonic Whiteness theory” (Hughey 2010, 2012; Lewis 2004; Morris 2005; Shirley 2010). This study is among the first to examine how whites’ social attitudes are linked to a “hegemonic” white identity. Using data from recent waves of the General Social Survey, we determine the extent to which various racial attitudes rooted in stereotypes of black biological and cultural inferiority and in perceptions of white superiority are related to white racial identity, through greater racial cohesion between whites and greater racial distancing from blacks. Findings show that net demographic characteristics, whites who espouse negative racial attitudes related to the biological or cultural dysfunction of blacks, or to whites as embattled victims relative to nonwhites, also exhibit stronger white racial identities. We also find that these relationships are by and large consistent across whites who hold divergent and even antagonistic racialized social orientations. We conclude by highlighting the implications of our findings for future research on white identity.

Authors

• Matthew W. Hughey, University of Connecticut

• Yasmiyn Antonia Irizarry, University of Texas-Austin