Racism, Implicit Bias, and Prejudice

Racism continues to be a feature of public opinion and political behaviour. The death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter campaign that ensued has recast a stark spotlight on this fact. The ideas of race and prejudice are also closely intertwined - racism can be understood as a very particular form of prejudice in which antipathy is expressed toward racial groups. These forms of prejudice and their catalysts can be biological or cultural, cognitive or affective, implicit or explicit. Implicit attitudes that produce racial prejudice have been of particular interest to social and political psychologists because they elude the conscious mind and remain introspectively inaccessible.  In an era of increasingly documented and exposed institutional racism, white supremacist support for political leaders, and divisive racial populist politics, it is impossible for either the public or scholars alike to treat racism as a minor issue. The following texts cover theories and measures of modern racism, implicit bias and prejudice as well as the ways in which they influence political attitudes and behaviour.

Introduction to the topic:

Kinder, R. (2013). Prejudice and Politics. In L. Huddy, D. Sears, and J. Levy (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 813-851.

Category 1: Understanding racism, implicit bias and prejudice.

Bobo, L., and Smith, R.A. (1998). From Jim Crow racism to laissez-faire racism: The transformation of racial attitudes. In W.F. Katkin, N Landsman, and A. Tyree (Eds.), Beyond Pluralism: The conception of groups and group identities in America. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S. L., and Pearson, A. R. (2017). Aversive racism and contemporary bias. In C. G. Sibley and F. K. Barlow (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of the psychology of prejudice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 267-294.  

Sibley, C., and Barlow, F. (2017). An Introduction to the Psychology of Prejudice. In C. Sibley and F. Barlow (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of the Psychology of Prejudice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 3-20.

Category 2: Measuring racism, implicit bias and prejudice.

McConahay, J. B. (1986). Modern racism, ambivalence, and the Modern Racism Scale. In J. F. Dovidio and S. L. Gaertner (Eds.), Prejudice, discrimination, and racism. Academic Press. pp. 91–125.

Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., and Schwartz, J. L. K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 74(6): 1464–1480.

Henry, P. and Sears, D.O. (2002). The Symbolic Racism 2000 Scale. Political Psychology, Vol. 23: 253-283.

Olson, M. A., and Zabel, K. L. (2016). Measures of prejudice. In T. D. Nelson (Ed.), Handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination. Psychology Press. pp. 175-211.

Jost, J. T. (2019). The IAT Is Dead, Long Live the IAT: Context-Sensitive Measures of Implicit Attitudes Are Indispensable to Social and Political Psychology. Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol. 28(1): 10–19.

Cramer, K. (2020). Understanding the Role of Racism in Contemporary US Public Opinion. Annual Review of Political Science, Vol. 23(1): 153-169.

Category 3: Political attitudes and behaviour.

Kuklinski, J., Sniderman, P., Knight, K., Piazza, T., Tetlock, P., Lawrence, G., and Mellers, B. (1997). Racial Prejudice and Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action. American Journal of Political Science, 41(2), 402-419.

Peffley, M., Hurwitz, J., and Sniderman, P. (1997). Racial Stereotypes and Whites' Political Views of Blacks in the Context of Welfare and Crime. American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 41(1): 30-60.

Feldman, S., and Huddy, L. (2005). Racial Resentment and White Opposition to Race-Conscious Programs: Principles or Prejudice? American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 49(1): 168-183.

Kalmoe, N.P., and Piston, S. (2013). Is Implicit Prejudice against Blacks Politically Consequential? Evidence from the AMP. Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 77(1): 305–322.

Carter, J.S. and Corra, M. (2016). Racial Resentment and Attitudes Toward the Use of Force by Police: An Over‐Time Trend Analysis. Sociological Inquiry, Vol. 86: 492-511.

Filindra, A., and Kaplan, N.J. (2016). Racial Resentment and Whites’ Gun Policy Preferences in Contemporary America. Political Behaviour, Vol. 38: 255–275.

Blinder, S. and Lundgren, L. (2019). Roots of group threat: anti-prejudice motivations and implicit bias in perceptions of immigrants as threats, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 42(12): 1971-1989. 

Category 4: Electoral politics.

Huber, G.A. and Lapinski, J.S. (2006). The “Race Card” Revisited: Assessing Racial Priming in Policy Contests. American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 50: 421-440.

Petrow, G.A. (2010). The Minimal Cue Hypothesis: How Black Candidates Cue Race to Increase White Voting Participation. Political Psychology, Vol. 31: 915-950.

Hartman, T., and Newmark, A. (2012). Motivated Reasoning, Political Sophistication, and Associations between President Obama and Islam. PS: Political Science & Politics, Vol. 45(3): 449-455.

Kinder, D.R. and Dale-Riddle, A. (2012). The End of Race?: Obama, 2008, and Racial Politics in America. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Tolbert, C.J., Redlawsk, D.P., and Gracey, K.J. (2018). Racial attitudes and emotional responses to the 2016 Republican candidates. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, Vol. 28(2): 245-262.

Shook, N.J., Fitzgerald, H.N., Boggs, S.T., Ford, C.G., Hopkins, P.D., and Silva, N.M. (2020). Sexism, racism, and nationalism: Factors associated with the 2016 U.S. presidential election results?. PLOS ONE, Vol. 15(3): e0229432.