The Role of Linked Fate in Liberal White Americans’ Reactions to Shifting National Racial Demographics

• In Event: Joint Roundtables: Social Psychology Section and Sociology of Emotions Section
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 6 - Identity & Race

Abstract

Exposure to shifting racial demographics can cause status threat among White Americans, defined as concern over their place in the racial hierarchy. However, recent research suggests that the degree of status threat varies by individuals’ political orientation. Specifically, White political liberals, but not conservatives, report lower levels of status threat after exposure to the increasing racial diversity of the nation compared with race-neutral control information. In the present work, two experimental studies (N = 1,308), including a pre-registered replication, investigated the role of racial identity management in the emergence of this effect - i.e., whether White liberals report decreased threat in response to information about shifting demographics because such information causes them to distance themselves from other White people. Results revealed that exposure to shifting racial demographics, compared with control information, reduced liberal participants’ sense of linked fate with other White Americans, which in turn, accounted for their lower reports of status threat. These findings implicate identity management processes in the emergence of White political liberals’ responses to cues regarding the stability of the U.S. racial hierarchy.

Authors

• Salem Sulaiman, Yale University

• Xanni Brown, University of Virginia

• Jennifer Richeson, Yale University