Is racism dead? Comparing (expressive) means and (structural equation) models

Much scholarship suggests that racism belief in out-group inferiority-is un related to contemporary attitudes. Purportedly, a new form of racism, one w hich relies upon a belief in cultural difference, has become a more accepta ble basis for such attitudes. The authors argue that an appropriate empiric al assessment of racism (both 'old' and 'new') depends upon (1) clear conce ptualization and operationalization, and (2) attention to both mean-level e xpression and explanatory value in structural equation models. This study a ssessed the endorsement of racism and belief in cultural difference as wt l l as their association with a measure of general attitude in a secondary an alysis of parallel representative surveys of attitudes toward different eth nic out-groups in France, the Netherlands, Western Germany and Britain (N = 3242; see Reif & Melich, 1991). For six of the seven out-group targets, ra cism was strongly related to ethnic majority attitudes, despite low mean-le vel endorsement. In a pattern consistent with a 'new', indirect racism, the relationship between British racism and attitudes toward Afro-Caribbeans w as mediated by belief in cultural difference.