The Ordinary Conception of Race in the United States and Its Relation to Racial Attitudes

A New Approach

Bibliographic Data

ID12822893
AuthorsJoshua Glasgow (0000-0001-5048-3109, Victoria University of Wellington, corresponding author), Julie L Shulman (Sonoma State University), Enrique Covarrubias (Indiana State University)
Year2009
Volume9
Issue1-2
Pages15-38
Publication date2009-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Cognition and Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1567-7095 • E-ISSN: 1568-5373
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/156853709x414610
OpenAlexW1986779033
LanguageEN
Citations received17

Many hold that ordinary race-thinking in the USA is committed to the 'one-drop rule', that race is ordinarily represented in terms of essences, and that race is ordinarily represented as a biological (phenotype- and/or ancestry-based, non-social) kind. This study investigated the extent to which ordinary race-thinking subscribes to these commitments. It also investigated the relationship between different conceptions of race and racial attitudes. Participants included 449 USA adults who completed an Internet survey. Unlike previous research, conceptions of race were assessed using concrete vignettes. Results indicate widespread rejection of the one-drop rule, as well as the use of a complex combination of ancestral, phenotypic, and social (and, therefore, non-essentialist) criteria for racial classification. No relationship was found between racial attitudes and essentialism, the one-drop rule, or social race-thinking; however, ancestry-based and phenotype-based classification criteria were associated with racial attitudes. These results suggest a complicated relationship between conceptions of race and racial attitudes

Developmental psychology · Essentialism · Race (biology · Sociology · Gender Studies · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

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