A fascinating analysis of white Americans' attitudes on race, by
two political scientists who argue strenuously, though not entirely
convincingly, that our leaders would be more effective in forging
multiracial consensus and coalition to improve social and economic
access for all citizens if they appealed to "moral principles that
reach beyond race." Conscious of contemporary Americans' growing
cynicism about both race and public-opinion polls, Sniderman
(Stanford Univ.) and Carmines (Indiana Univ.) devised techniques
using computer-assisted public-opinion research to uncover
attitudes among white respondents that might otherwise be obscured
by self-conscious efforts to make their answers conform to
"politically correct" standards. The good news is that the
resulting findings document not only a definitive decrease in overt
bigotry among whites, but also an increase in good will and
positive attitudes toward blacks. Nonetheless, the data also show
an overwhelming rejection of race-conscious policies like
affirmative action - even among whites who display the most
racially tolerant attitudes. In fact, Sniderman and Carmines offer
data showing that resistance to policies like affirmative action is
linked not to latent or persistent prejudice, as many assume, but
rather to a sense of its violation of American ideals of justice.
As Americans try to forge a new consensus in a racially polarized
society, this is a useful lesson in the reality that matters
besides race often shape people's response to racial issues. But
there is also the paradoxical correlative - which the authors
underplay to the detriment of their argument - that unexamined
racial attitudes are also played out in every aspect of daily life.
This monograph's exploration of undisclosed racial attitudes among
whites is challenging, but the analysis and conclusions about how
to pull a racially fragmented society together are less impressive.
(Kirkus Reviews)
If white Americans could reveal what they really think about race,
without the risk of appearing racist, what would they say? In this
elegantly written and innovative book, Paul Sniderman and Edward
Carmines illuminate aspects of white Americans' thinking about the
politics of race previously hidden from sight. And in a thoughtful
follow-up analysis, they point the way toward public policies that
could gain wide support and reduce the gap between black and white
Americans.
Their discoveries will surprise pollsters and policymakers
alike. The authors show that prejudice, although by no means gone,
has lost its power to dominate the political thinking of white
Americans. Concentrating on the new race-conscious agenda, they
introduce a method of hidden measurement which reveals that
liberals are just as angry over affirmative action as conservatives
and that racial prejudice, while more common among conservatives,
is more powerful in shaping the political thinking of liberals.
They also find that the good will many whites express for blacks is
not feigned but represents a genuine regard for blacks, which they
will stand by even when given a perfectly acceptable excuse to
respond negatively to blacks.
More crucially, Sniderman and Carmines show that the current
impasse over race can be overcome if we remember what we once knew.
The strongest arguments in behalf of equality for black Americans
reach beyond race to the moral principles that give the issue of
race itself a moral claim on us.
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