In the 2012 presidential election, for the first time in U.S. history African Americans voted at a higher rate than White Americans, while the percentage of White voters dropped from 66.2% in 2008 to 64.7%. This finding \u2014 coupled with the fact that African American, Hispanic, and Asian American communities have all favored Democratic candidates in recent elections \u2014 has led many to speculate about potential tectonic shifts in American politics. In any case, the country passed a new demographic milestone in July 2011, when for the first time the majority of society’s newest members \u2014 children under age 1 \u2014 were non-white, according to the Census Bureau.<\/p>\n
Scholars Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson (Northwestern University) begin a 2014 study, \u201cOn the Precipice of a \u2018Majority- Minority’ America: Perceived Status Threat From the Racial Demographic Shift Affects White Americans’ Political Ideology,\u201d by discussing the U.S. Census Bureau projection that racial minority groups will actually make up a majority of the entire U.S. population in 2042. The authors then proceed to describe a series of experiments designed to examine White Americans’ response to such a shift. Specifically, the authors explore whether Whites are more likely to support conservative policies and figures once these anticipated changes in racial demographics are made salient. The study was published in Psychological Science.<\/p>\n
Each of the four studies tackles a facet of the question using different social science research methods. Study 1 makes use of data from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press News Interest Index. In it, politically-unaffiliated White respondents were randomly assigned one of two survey forms \u2014 one made the majority-minority issue salient, the other did not \u2014 and after completing the survey, participants were asked which political party garnered more of their support. In Study 2, the authors attempted to test what mechanism \u2014 \u201cgroup-status threat,\u201d for example \u2014 might be the cause of any detected move toward conservatism. Some White Americans from a nationally representative Knowledge Networks sample were randomly assigned to read about projections that racial minorities would soon constitute a majority of the U.S. population, while others read about another topic. The two groups were then asked questions about perceived threats to their way of life as well as their political opinions. Finally, two parts of Study 3 explored the \u201cgroup threat\u201d hypothesis further, trying to determine if political shifts could be minimized if concerns about this group threat could be alleviated.<\/p>\n
Key general findings from the studies include:<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, in a nationally representative sample of White Americans, making the U.S. racial shift salient led to greater endorsement of conservative policies, compared with making a nonracial societal shift salient.\u201d
\n The conservative shift applies to both race-related and race-neutral policies: \u201cCompared with control participants, participants in the racial-shift condition expressed more support for conservative positions on both race-related issues and more race-neutral policies.\u201d
\n \u201cFurthermore, these effects were mediated by participants’ concerns about the loss of Whites’ societal status.\u201d In other words, one of the reasons for the shift appears to be \u201cperceived group-status threat\u201d or concern about social hierarchy from White Americans; \u201cthese experiments provide striking evidence that perceived group-status threat, triggered by exposure to the majority-minority shift, increases Whites’ endorsement of conservative political ideology and policy positions.\u201d
\n \u201cThese results offer compelling evidence that making a majority-minority racial shift salient can lead Whites to perceive that their racial group’s status is threatened and, in turn, to express greater political conservatism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interestingly, Craig and Richeson note that these findings could assuage Republican concerns about the rise of minority voters weakening their chances at the polls, as Whites become more uniform in their preferences. The authors explain: \u201cOne implication of the present work is that Whites may be increasingly likely and motivated to support conservative candidates and policies, in response to the changing racial demographics.\u201d The authors also suggest additional research to better determine just how much these changing demographics and political leanings could practically affect election outcomes.
\n– See more at: http:\/\/journalistsresource.org\/studies\/society\/race-society\/majority-minority-america-perceived-status-threat-white-citizens#sthash.7Y3GTCw1.dpuf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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