When racism and sexism benefit Black and female politicians

Politicians’ ideology moderates prejudice’s effect more than politicians’ demographic background

Bibliographic Data

ID6203405
AuthorsHui Bai (0000-0003-2671-5955, University of Minnesota, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume120
Issue6
Pages1480-1520
Publication date2021-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/pspi0000314
PMID32833465
OpenAlexW3080862538
LanguageEN
Citations received12

Using large samples that are nationally diverse or nationally representative (total N = 44,836), this article presents evidence that citizens' prejudice does not usually benefit or undermine politicians who are from a particular demographic group, as many past studies assumed; instead, citizens' prejudice is associated with support for conservative politicians and opposition to liberal politicians, regardless of politicians' demographic background. Study 1a and Study 1b show that, regardless of the race and gender of real politicians, racism and sexism negatively predict support for liberal politicians, and positively predict support for conservative politicians. This overall pattern is experimentally confirmed in Study 2 where participants evaluate a hypothetical politician. Using data collected between 1972 and 2016, Study 3 shows that, historically, the predictive effect of racism and sexism on support for politicians in general is moderated by politicians' perceived ideology. Study 4 addresses a limitation of Study 1-3, and Study 5 extends the results for prejudice to the religious domain (i.e., prejudice toward Muslims). Together, these studies suggest that the way prejudice is related to support for a politician is primarily moderated by the politician's political ideology, not the politician's demographic background. Thus, this article highlights the often-overlooked role of politicians' ideology, clarifying theories that explain how citizens' prejudice is translated into their political preferences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Ideology · Political science · Politics · Prejudice (legal term) · Racism · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Law · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

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