Description:
A test of alternative interpretations of the contemporary politics of race : a critical examination of divided by color This paper examines two interpretations of the contemporary politics of race. One emphasizes the persisting power of racism ; the other, the centrality of politics and political values. Each interpretation, to this point, has relied on surveys tailored to its distinctive concerns. We want now to see how the racism-centered and political oriented interpretations of the contemporary politics of race when tested alongside one another in the very surveys that the proponents of a racism-centered interpretation believe make their case. The empirical results show that contrary to the racism-centered interpretation, no blacklash against blacks took place in the late 1960s ; the measure supposed to measure the new racism is only incidentally related to the two elements that purportedly comprise the new racism ; their measure owes the closeness of connection to racial policy preferences as much to tapping positive feelings of identification with blacks as aversion to them : and insofar as their measure taps core American values, rather than reflecting individualism as the racism-centered interpretation claims, it is rooted in egalitarianism, as the politics-oriented interpretation contends.
A test of alternative interpretations of the contemporary politics of race : a critical examination of divided by color This paper examines two interpretations of the contemporary politics of race. One emphasizes the persisting power of racism ; the other, the centrality of politics and political values. Each interpretation, to this point, has relied on surveys tailored to its distinctive concerns. We want now to see how the racism-centered and political oriented interpretations of the contemporary politics of race when tested alongside one another in the very surveys that the proponents of a racism-centered interpretation believe make their case. The empirical results show that contrary to the racism-centered interpretation, no blacklash against blacks took place in the late 1960s ; the measure supposed to measure the new racism is only incidentally related to the two elements that purportedly comprise the new racism ; their measure owes the closeness of connection to racial policy preferences as much to tapping positive feelings of identification with blacks as aversion to them : and insofar as their measure taps core American values, rather than reflecting individualism as the racism-centered interpretation claims, it is rooted in egalitarianism, as the politics-oriented interpretation contends.