Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:33:20.416Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

RACE/ETHNICITY, PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION, AND BELIEFS ABOUT THE MEANING OF AN OBAMA PRESIDENCY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2009

Matthew O. Hunt  and
David C. Wilson
Matthew O. Hunt*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Northeastern University
David C. Wilson
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware
*
Professor Matthew O. Hunt, Department of Sociology, Northeastern University, 500 Holmes Hall, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail: m.hunt@neu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper explores how race/ethnicity and perceptions of racial discrimination and inequality shape beliefs about the implications of an Obama presidency for U.S. race relations. Specifically, using data from a June/July 2008 Gallup/USA Today survey, we examine how African Americans, Hispanics, and Whites differ in their perceptions of the importance of an Obama victory and in beliefs about the implications of such for race relations, racial progress, and opportunities for Blacks in their careers and in national politics. We also examine how perceptions of the extent and nature of racial discrimination and inequality shape these outcomes (overall and by race/ethnicity). Results show that African Americans, relative to Whites and Hispanics, are especially likely to see an Obama victory as important and meaningful in terms of relatively abstract notions of racial change. In contrast, Hispanics are more likely than African Americans and Whites to believe that an Obama win will translate into concrete societal changes, such as expanded opportunities for Blacks in work and politics. In addition, perceived discrimination and inequality positively shape all of the outcomes under study (more perceived discrimination equals more importance and optimism attached to an Obama win), though this association is especially strong among Whites—a pattern possibly rooted in divergent meanings attached to perceived discrimination and inequality by race/ethnicity. Overall, our findings suggest that African Americans view an Obama victory as meaningful primarily because of its symbolic significance, rather than because they believe it will result in substantive racial progress. We conclude by offering some speculation and selected questions for future research on race and U.S. politics.

Keywords

Barack ObamaRace/EthnicityPerceived DiscriminationInequalityRacial Attitudes
Type
STATE OF THE ART
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , Spring 2009 , pp. 173 - 191
Copyright
Copyright © W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aiken, Leona S. and West, Stephen G. (1991). Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Alba, Richard D. and Nee, Victor (2003). Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Baron, Reuben M. and Kenny, David A. (1986). The Moderator-Mediator Variable Distinction in Social Psychological Research: Conceptual, Strategic, and Statistical Considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6): 1173–1182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bobo, Lawrence D. (2000). Race and Beliefs about Affirmative Action: Assessing the Effects of Interests, Group Threat, Ideology, and Racism. In Sears, David O., Sidanius, Jim, and Bobo, Lawrence D. (Eds.), Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America, pp. 137–164. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bobo, Lawrence D. and Hutchings, Vincent L. (1996). Perceptions of Racial Group Competition: Extending Blumer's Theory of Group Position to a Multiracial Social Context. American Sociological Review, 61(6): 951–972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobo, Lawrence D. and Kluegel, James R. (1993). Opposition to Race-Targeting: Self-Interest, Stratification Ideology, or Racial Attitudes? American Sociological Review, 58(4): 442–464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobo, Lawrence D., Kluegel, James R., and Smith, Ryan A. (1997). Laissez-Faire Racism: The Crystallization of a Kinder, Gentler, Antiblack Ideology. In Tuch, Steven A. and Martin, Jack K. (Eds.), Racial Attitudes in the 1990s: Continuity and Change, pp. 15–42. Westport, CT: Praeger.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo (2003). Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Christian Science Monitor (2008). Will Obama Focus on Race Issues? November 14. ⟨http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1114/p08s01-comv.html⟩ (accessed December 1, 2008).Google Scholar
Cohen, Jacob, Cohen, Patricia, Aiken, Leona S., and West, Stephen G. (2003). Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences, 3rd ed.Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Conley, Dalton (1999). Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth, and Social Policy in America. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Connelly, Marjorie (2008). Dissecting the Changing Electorate. New York Times, November 9. ⟨http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/weekinreview/09connelly.html⟩ (accessed December 1, 2008).Google Scholar
Cornell, Stephen and Hartmann, Douglas (1997). Ethnicity and Race: Making Identities in a Changing World. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge.Google Scholar
Cose, Ellis (1993). The Rage of a Privileged Class: Why Do Prosperous Blacks Still Have the Blues? New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Davis, Darren W. (1997a). The Direction of Race of Interviewer Effects among African-Americans: Donning the Black Mask. American Journal of Political Science, 41(1): 309–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Darren W. (1997b). Nonrandom Measurement Error and Race of the Interviewer Effects among African Americans. Public Opinion Quarterly, 61(1): 183–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, Michael C. (1994). Behind the Mule: Race and Class in African American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
De la Garza, Rodolfo O., DeSipio, Louis, Garcia, F. Chris, Garcia, John, and Falcón, Angelo (1992). Latino Voices: Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban Perspectives on American Politics. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Hughes, Michael and Thomas, Melvin E. (1998). The Continuing Significance of Race Revisited: A Study of Race, Class, and Quality of Life in America, 1972 to 1996. American Sociological Review, 63(6): 785–795.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, Michael and Tuch, Steven A. (1999). How Beliefs about Poverty Influence Racial Policy Attitudes: A Study of Whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians in the United States. In Sears, David O., Sidanius, Jim, and Bobo, Lawrence D. (Eds.), Racialized Politics: The Debate about Racism in America, pp. 165–190. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hunt, Matthew O. (1996). The Individual, Society, or Both? A Comparison of Black, Latino, and White Beliefs about the Causes of Poverty. Social Forces, 75(1): 293–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, Matthew O. (2007). African American, Hispanic, and White Beliefs about Black/White Inequality, 1977–2004. American Sociological Review, 72(3): 390–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, Matthew O., Powell, Brian, Steelman, Lala Carr, and Jackson, Pamela B. (2000). Color-Blind: The Treatment of Race and Ethnicity in Social Psychology. Social Psychology Quarterly, 63(4): 352–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones-Correa, Michael (1998). Between Two Nations: The Political Predicament of Latinos in New York City. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinder, Donald R. and Sanders, Lynn M. (1996). Divided by Color. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Krysan, Maria (2000). Prejudice, Politics, and Public Opinion: Understanding the Sources of Racial Policy Attitudes. Annual Review of Sociology, 26: 135–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krysan, Maria and Couper, Mick P. (2003). Race in the Live and the Virtual Interview: Racial Deference, Social Desirability, and Activation Effects in Attitude Surveys. Social Psychology Quarterly, 66(4): 364–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manza, Jeff and Brooks, Clem (1999). Social Cleavages and Political Change: Voter Alignments and U.S. Party Coalitions. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massey, Douglas S. and Denton, Nancy A. (1993). American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
McConahay, John B. (1986). Modern Racism, Ambivalence, and the Modern Racism Scale. In Dovidio, John F. and Gaertner, Samuel L. (Eds.), Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism, pp. 61–89. Orlando, FL: Academic.Google Scholar
Oliver, J. Eric and Wong, Janelle (2003). Intergroup Prejudice in Multiethnic Settings. American Journal of Political Science, 47(4): 567–582.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Page, Susan (2008). Poll: Hopes are High for Race Relations. USA Today, November 6. ⟨http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-11-06-poll_N.htm⟩ (accessed December 1, 2008).Google Scholar
Pedraza, Silvia and Rumbaut, Rubén (1996). Origins and Destinies: Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in America. Belmont, WA: Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Schnittker, Jason, Freese, Jeremy, and Powell, Brian (2000). Nature, Nurture, Neither, Nor: Black-White Differences in Beliefs about the Causes and Appropriate Treatment of Mental Illness. Social Forces, 78(3): 1101–1132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schorr, Daniel (2008). A New “Post-Racial” Political Era in America. All Things Considered, NPR, January 28. ⟨http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18489466⟩ (accessed December 1, 2008).Google Scholar
Schuman, Howard, Steeh, Charlotte, Bobo, Lawrence D., and Krysan, Maria (1997). Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Steelman, Lala Carr and Powell, Brian (1993). Doing the Right Thing: Race and Parental Locus of Responsibility for Funding College. Sociology of Education, 66(4): 223–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tabachnick, Barbara G. and Fidell, Linda S. (2007). Using Multivariate Statistics, 5th ed.Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Tropp, Linda R. (2007). Perceived Discrimination and Interracial Contact: Predicting Interracial Closeness among Black and White Americans. Social Psychology Quarterly, 70(1): 70–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welch, Susan and Sigelman, Lee (1993). The Politics of Hispanic Americans: Insights from National Surveys, 1980–1988. Social Science Quarterly, 74(1): 76–94.Google Scholar
Williams, Juan (2008). Obama's Color Line. New York Times, November 30. ⟨http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/opinion/30williams.html⟩ (accessed December 1, 2008).Google Scholar
Winship, Christopher and Radbill, Larry (1994). Sampling Weights and Regression Analysis. Sociological Methods and Research, 23(2): 230–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yancey, George (2003). Who is White: Latinos, Asians, and the New Black/Nonblack Divide. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar