How Trump's presidency shifted social norms to make racism acceptable. Can that be undone?

[marmar]

Trump unleashed the poison of racism — and new research suggests it will linger for years
New research reveals how Trump's presidency shifted social norms to make racism acceptable. Can that be undone?

By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
PUBLISHED MARCH 3, 2022 6:00AM


(Salon) ew research by a pair of social psychologists suggests that Donald Trump's presidency unleashed racial animus and white supremacist ideology in ways that will shape American society for years or decades to come.

The study by Benjamin C. Ruisch of the University of Kent in England and Melissa J. Ferguson of Yale, published last week in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Human Behaviour, is entitled "Changes in Americans' prejudices during the presidency of Donald Trump." The authors summarize their findings this way:

In 13 studies including over 10,000 participants, we tested how Americans' prejudice changed following the political ascension of Donald Trump. We found that explicit racial and religious prejudice significantly increased amongst Trump's supporters, whereas individuals opposed to Trump exhibited decreases in prejudice.

Ferguson and Ruisch explain this by referencing the power of "social norms," which, they say,

do not exert a uniform effect on people's attitudes. Rather, adherence to social norms occurs largely along group boundaries: People primarily assimilate to norms that are held by 'social reference groups', that is, individuals and groups that they personally respect and admire. In the highly polarized political landscape of the United States, this translates into the prediction that Trump's counter-normative behaviour should not have uniformly affected the attitudes of all Americans. Rather, it should have increased expressions of prejudice primarily amongst those who view him positively, that is, his supporters.

....(snip)....

It was never accurate to describe Trump's voters as predominantly belonging the "white working class," with which mainstream news media became so obsessed. In reality, the average Trump voter in the 2016 Republican primaries had a household income of $72,000, substantially above the national median at the time. Moreover, researchers have shown that Trump's followers who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were more likely to be from suburban communities experiencing "demographic change" than from economically disadvantaged working-class communities. ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2022/03/03/unleashed-the-poison-of--and-new-research-suggests-it-will-linger-for-years/

[Lovie777]

1. YES ...

[dalton99a]

2. Racism is now de rigueur among Republicans

[kwolf68]

3. Interesting that

People who opposed Trump became more compassionate toward race issues.

He inspires those racists who hate and he also inspires those who oppose them. So that's a good sign.

As long as he doesn't get the Presidency by decree and then outlaw opposition parties we could still one day turn the tide.

[KarenS]

4. I remember him/them making fun of the words

politically correct. Now they are all about hate.

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. It's kind of funny that people can say "the mask is off" re Republicans...

when the mask was a pointy white hood the whole time.

[Johnny2X2X]

5. Still waiting for the first story on the Biden voters

Biden got a record number of Americans to vote for him, 7 million more than Trump did. Where's the stories on how everyone should try to understand Biden voters?

[Demsrule86]

11. Great point

[treestar]

6. It does not seem more acceptable

We've had many stories regarding people being fired for doing/saying something racist.

[Demsrule86]

7. Racism is still not acceptable outside of Fringe GOP types...people lose their jobs for it everyday.

[sop]

8. Trump also unleashed the poison of anti-democracy to go along with the poison of racism.

"Suburban communities experiencing 'demographic change'" is just a polite euphemism for angry whites violently resisting being forced to share this country with people not like them. For them, democracy is the biggest threat to their continued white supremacy.

"White Outgroup Intolerance and Declining Support for American Democracy," a paper by political scientists Steven V. Miller and Nicholas T. Davis, found a correlation between white Americans’ intolerance and support for authoritarian rule: "When intolerant white people fear democracy may benefit marginalized people, they abandon their commitment to democracy."

[gopiscrap]

9. exactly

[Tadpole Raisin]

10. 3 things I think of off the top -

And unfortunately I don’t see any of them happening

1. Reinstitute some version of the Fairness Doctrine

2. Reverse the law allowing companies from owning so many TV stations, radios, or newspapers? It means the vast majority of news we get is from, what, 4-5 companies.

3. Teach civics again in school. Sandra Day O’Connor was truly prescient.

4. Remove money from elections and tighten up campaign financing laws.


Yes, I know….

[JustAnotherGen]

12. This is why I will say "I told you so"

All I want to Trump Magats.

I KNOW this. I've experienced it first hand. I will NEVER forget and NEVER trust those people.

I'm 49 - it's my right at this time in my life to surround myself with those of positive intent. Bigots are no good nothings and I don't give a shit about their feelings or making them feel like they are a 'part of us'.

They aren't - and they did it to themselves.

[sakabatou]

14. It may take decades to change social norms

[llashram]

15. American racism

has never been undone. Been around since 1619. The ex-POTUS just brought out the ugly in people who ALWAYS carried this hate in their evil little hearts.