Measuring White Identity

• In Event: Identity and Measurement in Racial Politics

Abstract

Scholars are increasingly pointing to identity politics as a key explanation for white political behavior—from attitudes about immigration to social services and candidate vote choice (Jardina 2019; Schildkraut 2015; Sides, Tesler, and Vavreck 2018). This white in-group consciousness is often conceptualized as solidarity with the group that motivates protecting white status. But is the measurement of white consciousness capturing the conceptualization? This paper carefully reconsiders the measurement of white consciousness to more accurately reflect the conceptualization across two dimensions. The first, consciousness, reflects the cognitive centrality of racial group membership for individuals. The second, valence, indicates how an individual interprets this group membership in the broader social, political, and economic context, and ranges from disadvantage to advantage. Valence, a previously overlooked component of white identity, is an especially powerful predictor of white support for advancing racial inclusion—those with an advantaged valence are more supportive of these political projects while those with a disadvantaged valence remain opposed. To do this, I draw upon a national survey of white Americans from 2022 and an interview evidence from the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area in Minnesota both before and after the 2020 uprising. I find that valence is indeed a powerful determinant of white support for the Black Lives Matter movement, and to a lesser extent police reform and financial reparations for Black Americans.

Author

• Geneva Cole, University of Arizona