What You Don't Know Can Still Hurt You: Correcting Black Misperceptions

• In Event: Information & Views of Minoritized Groups

Abstract

In the wake of the 2020 protests for racial justice, renewed attention has been focused on persistent levels of inequality between Blacks and Whites. Arguably, the most staggering measure of inequality is the racial wealth gap. Previous scholarship has shown that African Americans are generally misinformed about the magnitude of this economic divide. However, researchers know very little about whether informing Blacks about this phenomenon would dispel these misperceptions and induce greater support for policies designed to reduce or eliminate it. Additionally, little is known about the demographic and attitudinal moderators that might facilitate African American receptiveness to corrective information about the racial wealth gap. In this paper, we examine these questions with four online survey experiments, including one based on a nationally representative sample, and information gleaned from focus groups regarding what Blacks know about the racial wealth gap, whether their misperceptions can be corrected, and whether exposure to accurate information about this gap leads to greater support for either race-targeted or race neutral policy remedies. Across each of our studies we find some limited evidence that misperceptions can be dispelled, but almost no indication that such interventions lead to greater support for remedial policies. We explore whether study participants fully comprehend the crippling implications of the racial wealth gap. We also find some evidence that subsets within the Black community are more receptive to corrective information than are others

Authors

• Vincent L. Hutchings, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

• Sydney Carr, College of the Holy Cross

• Kamri Hudgins, University of Michigan

• Zoe Walker, University of Michigan