Belief in US government conspiracies against blacks among black and white college students: Powerlessness or system blame?

Black Americans are far more likely than White Americans to endorse theorie s about conspiracies by the U.S. government against Blacks. The present stu dy explored the predictors of these conspiracy beliefs for 91 Black and 96 White college students. Two explanations for belief in these conspiracies w ere considered, one focusing on political powerless and externality of attr ibutions and the other focusing on system blame for Blacks' disadvantaged s tatus. Regression analyses supported the view that belief in these conspira cy theories is related to blaming problems of Black Americans on prejudice and discrimination. Race was a powerful predictor of belief in these conspi racies even when socioeconomic status was controlled. Furthermore, the race effect was partially mediated by the system blame measure but not by polit ical powerlessness or greater externality of attributional style. System bl ame was a much stronger predictor of conspiracy beliefs for Black than for White students. Conspiracy beliefs were positively associated with the raci al self-esteem of Black students and negatively for White students. Clinica l implications and implications for intergroup relations are discussed.