Reconsidering the environmental determinants of white racial attitudes

Most research on the environmental determinants of whites' racial attitudes focuses on the "threat" hypothesis, i.e., that white racism increases with the competition posed by a larger black population. We argue that in the s egregated United Stales, contextual effects are more complicated than this, involving both race and socio-economic status. Cross-level data on individ ual racial attitudes and the environment's racial and education composition , constructed from the 1991 Race and Politics Survey and the 1990 Census, s upport this assertion. Living amongst more uneducated whites has a greater impact on whites' racial attitudes than does living amongst more blacks. Fu rther analysis shows that the sources of this effect come less from interra cial competition and more from a psychological response of out-group hostil ity generated by low status contexts. We also find that whites' views on ra cially targeted policies are shaped by racial contexts but only where the c ontextual parameter coincides with the policy outcome. Our findings suggest specific limitations to the threat thesis and highlight other ways that so cial contexts shape racial attitudes.