The Sources of Support for the Black Lives Matter Movement

• In Event: Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Abstract

This study explores the potential sources of support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Because the movement succeeded in making headlines, organizing protests, and drawing attention to the problem of race and race relations in our society and politics, identifying the predictors of support for the movement is an important step toward addressing the racial conflicts in our society.
Although the number of empirical studies on this question is limited, the existing studies provide theoretical insights into the predictors of support for the movement (e.g., Merseth 2018; Corral 2020; Bonilla and Tillery 2020). For example, Merseth showed that race-related beliefs – linked fate among Asian Americans and their perception of blacks – are influential predictors of Asian Americans’ support for the BLM movement. Similarly, Corral demonstrated that Latinos’ and whites’ racial beliefs about blacks (e.g., negative stereotypes) play an important role in predicting their attitudes toward the BLM movement.
This present research attempts to improve upon these studies in two ways. First, this study will adopt a comparative perspective by incorporating all 4 major racial and ethnic groups: whites, Latinos, blacks, and Asians Americans. This comparative study would contribute to identifying a general pattern in the relationship between the sources and the support for the movement. Second, this study will also add to the theoretical discussions on the potential sources of the support for the BLM movement. Specifically, it examines the role of linked fate and the emotional responses on race relations in accounting for their support for the BLM movement.
The extant literature suggests that linked fate, which represents the concept of group thinking or consciousness, is an important predictor of various political behaviors among minority group members as well as whites. This expectation will be tested by incorporating members of the 3 major minority groups. It is expected that those minority group members who hold a higher level of linked fate are more likely than those who do not to be supportive of the movement. However, those whites who hold a higher level of linked fate are expected to be less likely to be supportive of the movement.
Although considering the role of emotion in behavioral studies is well established, it is rarely examined in accounting for racial behaviors. According to some studies (e.g., Marcus and MacKuen 1993; Valentino et al., 2011), emotions – hope, anger, or fear – would be an important predictor of political participation or leaning. By applying these theories, this study will test the relationship between different emotional responses and support for the BLM movement. It examines the influence various emotional reactions have on individuals’ support for the movement.
To test the influence of linked fate and various emotional responses on race relations on support for the BLM movement, the Collaborative Multi-racial Post-election Survey of 2020 will be used.

Author

• Dukhong Kim, Florida Atlantic University