CRACKS IN AMERICAN APARTHEID - THE POLITICAL IMPACT OF PREJUDICE AMONG DESEGREGATED WHITES

Despite the heroic efforts and real achievements provided by the Civil Rights movement, the United States remains today a profoundly segrega ted society. Here we investigate whether racial isolation affects the extent to which prejudice becomes insinuated into the opinions white A mericans express on matters of racial policy. Analyzing national surve y data well suited to this question, we find that racial isolation gen erally enhances the impact of prejudice on opinion; that the political potency of prejudice increases insofar as racial isolation prevails i n whites' everyday lives. In the conclusion of the article, we locate our results in the broader literature on segregation and draw out thei r implications for racial politics into the future.