Symbolic racism

Symbolic racism (also known as modern-symbolic racism, modern racism,symbolic prejudice, and racial resentment) is a coherent belief system that reflects an underlying unidimensional prejudice towards black people in the United States. These beliefs include the stereotype that blacks are morally inferior to white people, and that they violate traditional White American values such as hard work and independence. This is also more of a general term than it is specifically related to prejudice towards black people. It can be more generally characterized as an open dislike and derogation of individuals related to one's self. These beliefs may cause the subject to discriminate against black people and to justify this discrimination. Some prejudiced people do not view symbolic racism as prejudice since it is not linked directly to race but indirectly through social and political issues.

David O. Sears and P.J. Henry characterize symbolic racism as the expression or endorsement of four specific themes or beliefs:

Symbolic racism is a form of modern racism, as it is more subtle and indirect than more overt forms of racism, such as those characterized in Jim Crow laws. As symbolic racism develops through socialization and its processes occur without conscious awareness, an individual with symbolic racist beliefs may genuinely oppose racism and believe he is not racist. Symbolic racism is perhaps the most prevalent racial attitude today.

In the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement, many in the United States found old-fashioned (or “Jim Crow”) racism dissolving along with segregation. New forms of racism began to replace old-fashioned racism. Symbolic racism is a term that was coined by David Sears and John McConahay in 1973 to explain why most white Americans supported principles of equality for black Americans, but less than half were willing to support programs designed to implement these principles. The original theory described three definitive aspects of symbolic racism:

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