How African-American Success Stories Undermine Sympathy for Racial Inequalities
This article is by Clayton Critcher, an assistant professor of marketing, cognitive science, and psychology at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
In his majority opinion that struck down the Voting Rights Act, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “Our country has changed,” essentially stating that the 1965 civil rights legislation was outdated. But the recent racist rants of Donald Sterling and Cliven Bundy have had some wondering just how far we have actually come.
What these episodes may most clearly illustrate is how difficult it is to gauge the prevalence of racism in modern America. Do Sterling and Bundy reflect a widespread racism that typically resides just outside of the limelight, or does the swiftness with which the NBA and Republican Party distanced themselves from these pariahs reinforce Roberts’ claim?
University of Chicago professor Jane Risen and I, recognizing that the racial climate is difficult to assess, set out to understand what guides people’s beliefs. After all, it matters whether you see modern America as a nation plagued by racism or as one where equal opportunity is real. It affects how you make sense of why racial disparities persist (and thus what, if anything, you think can be done about them).
We found that when non-blacks were exposed to African-American success stories—tales of those who defied the odds, like Merck chief executive Kenneth Frazier, Brown University President Ruth Simmons, and even President Obama—they became less sympathetic to more average African-Americans, without even realizing it. They unknowingly reasoned, “If he can do it, so can they.”
Risen and I conducted eight experiments with both college undergraduates and non-students. We had participants complete a supposedly unrelated task before expressing their opinion about why racial disparities persist in modern America. In the first part, participants answered numerous questions like, “Which of the two men shown below do you think is famous author John Grisham?” For some participants, one or two of these questions involved especially successful African-Americans. These key questions appeared straightforward (e.g., “Which of the two men shown below is the CEO of Merck?), but their true purpose was to subtly inform participants (through the provided pictures) that a particular high-level position was occupied by an African-American. As a control, other participants were asked only about whites.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2014/05/20/how-african-american-success-stories-undermine-sympathy-for-racial-inequalities/
= new reply since forum marked as read
