Whites' racial policy attitudes

Abstract

Objective. Recent race attitude research has focused on the disparity between whites' support for principles of racial equality on the one hand and their intransigence on social policies designed to redress racial inequities on the other, the so-called principle-implementation gap. Whites' views on racial policy issues and the factors that shape these views are examined in this paper. Methods. Attitudes toward racial policies that span a broad political spectrum are modeled using data from two national surveys, the 1990 General Social Survey and the 1986 American National Election Study. Results. A multicausal interpretation of the principle-policy divide is supported. Structural attributions of the sources of racial inequality, recognition of the embeddedness of discrimination toward blacks, and group self-interest combine to shape whites' racial policy attitudes. Conclusions. Education programs aimed at increasing whites' understanding of the insidious nature of past and present discrimination and of the effects of structured inequality can improve the prospects for successful policy implementation

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