Publication Date

8-2006

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that cognitive tendencies related to political sophistication produce an attribution bias in the widely accepted symbolic racism scale. When this bias is controlled statistically, the effect of symbolic racism on racial policy attitudes is greatly diminished. Our theory posits that high sophisticates tend to make global/distal attributions, allowing them to associate racial inequality with broader sociopolitical causes. Less sophisticated individuals, conversely, tend to make local/proximal attributions, thus biasing them against ascribing responsibility systemically. Consequently, less sophisticated individuals tend to be classified as intolerant by the symbolic racism scale, even when controlling for factors such as ideology and anti-black affect.

Document Type

Article

Keywords

symbolic racism, political sophistication, attribution, racial attitudes

Disciplines

American Politics | Other Political Science

Extent

16 pages

Format

.pdf

Source

Gomez, Brad T.; Wilson, J. Matthew, "Rethinking Symbolic Racism: Evidence of Attribution Bias" (August 2006). The Journal of Politics, vol. 68, no. 3, pp. 611-625.

Language

English

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