Symbolic racism (also known as modern-symbolic racism, modern racism, symbolic prejudice, and racial resentment) is a coherent belief system that reflects an underlying one-dimensional prejudice towards a racialized ethnicity. These beliefs include the stereotype that black people are morally inferior to white people, and that black people violate traditional White American values such as hard work and independence. However, symbolic racism is more of a general term than it is one specifically related to prejudice towards black people. These beliefs may cause the subject to discriminate against black people and to justify this discrimination. Some people do not view symbolic racism as prejudice since it is not linked directly to race but is indirectly linked through social and political issues.
David O. Sears and P.J. Henry characterize symbolic racism as the expression or endorsement of four specific themes or beliefs: Black people no longer face much prejudice or discrimination. The failure of black people to progress results from their unwillingness to work hard enough. Black people are demanding too much too fast. Black people have gotten more than they deserve.
Symbolic racism is a form of modern implicit racism, as it is more subtle and indirect than more overt forms of racism, such as Jim Crow laws. As symbolic racism develops through socialization and its processes occur without conscious awareness, an individual with symbolically racist beliefs may genuinely oppose racism and believe they are not racist. Symbolic racism is perhaps the most prevalent contemporary form of racism.
The concept of symbolic racism has been criticized for being inconsistent in measurement and concept over time. New experiments also provide evidence that responses do not differ when groups other than African Americans are referenced.
Definition
In the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement, old-fashioned racism declined along with segregation in the United States. Some people believe that newer forms of racism began to replace older forms of racism. Symbolic racism is a term that was coined by David Sears and John McConahay in 1973 to explain why most White Americans supported principles of equality for Black Americans, but less than half were willing to support programs designed to implement these principles. The original theory described three definitive aspects of symbolic racism: A new form of racism had replaced old-fashioned Jim Crow racism, as it was no longer popular and could no longer be influential in politics, as only a small minority still accepted it. Opposition to black politicians and racially targeted policies is more influenced by symbolic racism than by any perceived or true threat to whites' own personal lives. The origins of this form of racism lay in early-socialized negative feelings about blacks associated with traditional conservative values.
The concept of symbolic racism has evolved over time, but most writings currently define symbolic racism as containing four themes: Racial discrimination is no longer a serious obstacle to black people's prospects for a good life. Black people's continuing disadvantages are largely due to their unwillingness to work hard enough. Black people's continuing demands are unwarranted. Black people's increased advantages are also unwarranted.
History
The term symbolic racism was first implemented in the 1970s, as a way to describe discrimination against blacks post-Jim Crow. It was used to differentiate between older, more overt forms of racism and newer forms of discrimination. Attacks on busing shortly after integration of schools became widespread have been posited as early examples of symbolic racism. However, Kinder has stated that older forms of racism are still prevalent in modern society.
Following the Jim Crow era, when older, overtly racist business practices were outlawed, some turned to more discreet methods of racism. While realtors in the late 1960s and early 1970s could no longer outright deny selling a home to a black person because they were black, they often gave the black person a higher price point than they would have if they were a white person.
Discrimination also pervaded loan offices, where black people continued to be less likely to get a meeting with a loan officer, less likely to be approved for a loan, and less likely to receive all the necessary information.
In 1981, Howard Schuman replicated a study originally performed in 1950 to test discrimination in New York City restaurants on the Upper East Side. He discovered only minor changes in discrimination levels.