new racism thesis

Limited-Government Values and the Subtlety of “New Racism”

Reviewed by Becky Mer

A Review of

The New "New Racism" Thesis: Limited Government Values and Race-Conscious Policy Attitudes

Jason Gainous

By considering white Americans’ limited-government values, policy attitudes, and levels of racial prejudice, this research explores how policy opinions can subtly mask underlying racism.

Introduction

This study responds to the public debate on why some white people oppose large-scale government programs. Several researchers argue that “old racism” may influence some white Americans’ policy attitudes. This theory holds that some white people oppose race-conscious policy, or any policy explicitly intended to benefit Black people because they perceive Black people to be biologically inferior. Examples of these race-conscious policies include affirmative action and government spending on aid for Black communities. In contrast to these perceptions, other researchers argue that “old racism” may have diminished over time, revealing a more subtle, yet still present, form of “new racism.” Proponents of this theory argue that, rather than opposing race-conscious policy on the grounds of overt racism, some white people object to such policies on the basis of promoting traditional American values, such as individualism and self-reliance. 

Dr. Jason Gainous suggests there is another more subtle objection to race-conscious policy which, unlike individualism, does not rely on descriptions of people or their personal characteristics. This theory, termed  “new racism” focuses on limited-government values, or opposition to big government, as a cover for some white people’s opposition to race-conscious policy. In this study, the author examines whether the effect of limited-government values in guiding white people’s attitudes about race-conscious policy is conditional on white people’s levels of racial prejudice. His findings suggest that this conditional effect does indeed exist. 

Dr. Gainous is a Professor and Department Chair at the Department of Political Science at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. His areas of expertise include research methods, political psychology, public opinion, and political behavior. Dr. Gainous is the co-author of two books, including, “Rebooting American Politics: The Internet Revolution” (2011). He has also authored and co-authored more than 35 journal articles, five book chapters, and numerous other academic publications.

Methods and Findings

To assess if the effect of limited-government values in determining white people’s perceptions regarding race-conscious policy is conditional on racial prejudice, Dr. Gainous used survey data from the 2008 American National Election Studies (ANES). The unit of analysis was the individual, and there were 1,667 white respondents in the sample, although several questions were not asked to the full cohort. Each of the study models includes a series of control variables, including feelings toward the beneficiaries of government aid programs. 

Before performing the main multivariate test, Dr. Gainous contextualized his test by first assessing differences in limited-government values and racial prejudice across a series of demographic variables, such as gender, age, income, education, and political party identification. This initial assessment resulted in several findings: 

1. Regarding both limited-government values and racial prejudice measurements, respondents identifying as either Republicans or males have significantly higher results than their respective counterparts. This implies that if there is, in fact, subtle racism in how limited-government values are applied to race-conscious policy attitudes.

2. White respondents at or above the median income tend to have stronger limited-government values but show no signs of heightened racial prejudice. Similarly, those above the mean age tend to have stronger limited-government values but do not show elevated signs of racial prejudice.

Dr. Gainous’ multivariate test directly assesses whether the effect of limited-government values on race-conscious policy opinions is conditional on levels of racial prejudice. The interactive results of this assessment confirm this relationship and provide persuasive evidence in support of the author’s “new racism” theory. However, the findings suggest that the effect of limited-government values on white people’s attitudes about racially ambiguous social welfare policy is not conditional on racial prejudice. Such policies seek to alleviate social and economic disadvantages generally rather than on the basis of race. This suggests that the way in which limited-government values are conditionally applied depends on the policy beneficiaries being explicitly Black.

Conclusions

“New racism” may operate with greater subtlety than previously understood. This study suggests that by relying on limited-government values, some white Americans have found a way to make racially based objections to race-conscious policy without expressing overt racism. This implies that white people’s policy opinions mask underlying racism in even subtler ways than claims of “by-your-bootstraps” individualism. 

The findings of this study indicate that white Americans are not absent of principle, values, and beliefs when developing an opinion pertaining to race-conscious policy. In fact, values may not be the only factor in such attitudes. Racial prejudice plays a key role and appears to work together with values.

It is important to note that the author is not contending that limited-government values are not a meaningful source of policy opinions and attitudes. Rather, the author claims it is possible that, for some white Americans, the way in which limited government values are applied to race-conscious policy attitudes may be rooted in racial prejudice.

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The new "new racism" thesis: limited government values and race-conscious policy attitudes

Affiliation.

• 1 University of Louisville, KY.
• PMID: 22536624
• DOI: 10.1177/0021934711417436

Some contend that Whites’ application of values to form opinions about race-conscious policy may constitute a subtle form of racism. Others challenge the new racism thesis, suggesting that racism and values are exclusive in their influence. Proponents of the thesis assert that many Whites’ attitudes about such policy are structured by a mix of racism and American individualism. The author suggests that an even more subtle form of racism may exist. Racism may actually be expressed in opposition to big government. The test results presented here indicate that the effects of limited-government values on attitudes about race-conscious policy are conditional on levels of racial prejudice for many Whites, whereas the effects on racially ambiguous social welfare policy attitudes are not. The author contends that these results provide support to the argument that racism still exists and has found a new subtle expression.

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• DOI: 10.1177/0021934711417436
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The New “New Racism” Thesis

• Jason Gainous
• Published in Journal of Black Studies 1 April 2012
• Political Science, Sociology

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The New “New Racism” Thesis: Limited Government Values and Race-Conscious Policy Attitudes

2012, Journal of Black Studies

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We address the role of racial antagonism in whites’ opposition to racially-targeted policies. The data come from four surveys selected for their unusually rich measurement of both policy preferences and other racial attitudes: the 1986 and 1992 National Election Studies, the 1994 General Social Survey, and the 1995 Los Angeles County Social Survey. They indicate that such opposition is more strongly rooted in racial antagonism than in non-racial conservatism, that whites tend to respond to quite different racial policies in similar fashion, that racial attitudes affect evaluations of black and ethnocentric white presidential candidates, and that their effects are just as strong among college graduates as among those with no college education. Second, we present evidence that symbolic racism is consistently more powerful than older forms of racial antagonism, and its greater strength does not diminish with controls on non-racial ideology, partisanship, and values. The origins of symbolic racism lie partly in both anti-black antagonism and non-racial conservative attitudes and values, and so mediates their effects on policy preferences, but it explains substantial additional variance by itself, suggesting that it does represent a new form of racism independent of older racial and political attitudes. The findings are each replicated several times with different measures, in different surveys conducted at different times. We also provide new evidence in response to earlier critiques of research on symbolic racism.

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The New New Racism Thesis: Limited Government Values and Race-Conscious Policy Attitudes

APSA 2011 Annual Meeting Paper

32 Pages Posted: 1 Aug 2011 Last revised: 6 Aug 2011

Jason Gainous

University of Louisville

Date Written: 2011

Some contend that whites’ application of values to form opinions about race-conscious policy may constitute a subtle form of racism. Others challenge the New Racism Thesis suggesting that racism and values are exclusive in their influence. Proponents of the thesis assert that many whites’ attitudes about such policy are structured by a mix of racism and American individualism. I suggest that an even more subtle form of racism may exist. Racism may actually be expressed in opposition to big government. The test results presented here indicate that the effects of limited government values on attitudes about race-conscious policy are conditional on levels of racial prejudice for many whites while the effects on racially ambiguous social welfare policy attitudes are not. I contend that these results provide support to the argument that racism still exists and has found a new subtle expression.

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Māori men more likely to be stopped, tasered, prosecuted by police due to 'bias' and 'structural racism'.

Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller

"Bias" and "structural racism" within the police are partly why Māori men are more likely to be stopped, prosecuted and tasered, a two-year investigation has found.

The report - Understanding Police Delivery - which has just been released - presents key results from the first phase of an inquiry into "equity and fairness" in policing.

It was announced by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster in March 2021 after RNZ revealed police officers in many regions were systematically stopping and photographing rangatahi Māori on the street for a national database .

One of its key findings was that physical appearance - including size, gender, age and ethnicity - often play a role in police officers' "perception of aggressive behaviour" and their decision to use force.

The decision to use force could also be influenced by "time and resource constraints".

"Results indicate that inequity exists in the policing system and operates at different levels: structural, institutional and interpersonal," researchers said.

The police minister did not believe there was bias in the police, despite the report's findings, and said officers do not get to choose who they deal with.

"I believe that we have a world class police service that do an outstanding job and don't think there is systemic bias in the police at all," Mark Mitchell said.

Mitchell said Māori are over-represented in the criminal justice system, but the blame should not be on police.

Labour leader - and former police minister - Chris Hipkins said he hoped the report will identify where police need to improve.

Hipkins said he had not seen the report before it was released, but a lot of work had been done to change internal police culture and look at the underpinning biases.

"I wanna be clear here, I'm not accusing any police of bias, but I'm saying that some of their models of policing previously were found to be bias and I know they've worked really hard to change that culture."

Hipkins said police culture is an integral part of police safety.

The Green Party said findings of police bias were not a surprise. Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said the contents of the report were disappointing but the problem was not new.

She was critical of the police minister's denial of bias in the police force, saying the government was ignoring the evidence.

"I think it tracks with a body of evidence both domestically and internationally, when it comes to particularly the prosecution of people of colour but especially indigenous peoples across the world."

Racial inequities

Of complaints assessed, which specifically referred to "racism", 38 percent were from Māori followed by 22 percent from Asian complainants.

"Complaints regarding searches indicated that Māori felt unwarranted searches, in particular violated their tikanga (ways of doing things within cultural boundaries) of their home/personal space."

Māori and Pacific people were disproportionally over-represented in "use of force events", including those involving tasers.

Use of tasers

• One in five taser "events" in the six-month period was at a family harm event.
• Males were nearly 10 times more likely to be tasered (over 85 percent of all tactical operations/use of force reports involved a male).
• 92 percent of taser events involved men, and 90 percent of taser discharge events.
• "The threshold for threat is considerably lower than that for females."
• "In some cases, men were tasered for non-compliance or to gain control over a situation when no physical threat or weapon was present."

There were three "events" where youth were tasered.

All were Māori males, two were just 14-years-old.

Overall, the level of force described in the complaints tended to be more serious for Māori and Pacific peoples.

One Pasifika male described a violent interaction with a police officer: "Before I even got out of the area, three police officers grabbed me, smashed me into my partner's car and knocked me so hard I felt I may have gone unconscious for a moment."

However, the report also noted Māori youth were "far less likely to complain than any other group".

Researchers said the over-representation of Māori in the criminal system could not be explained solely by "racism" on the part of individual police officers or even "structural racism", but had its roots in the wider failure of society.

"Police operate within a much larger political eco-system that has consistently undermined the health and wellbeing of Māori communities, and as a result, Māori are more likely to be exposed to police intervention in their lives."

Mental crisis callouts

People with communication difficulties - either due to poor English, mental illness or disability - could sometimes be seen by police as "non compliant".

That could "influence threat perception and decision-making, and increase the likelihood of force being used".

Report makes 40 recommendations

The independent analysis - which was led by long-term justice reform advocate Tā Kim Workman, along with academics, researchers and community leaders - includes seven separate reports (on praise and dissatisfaction, complaints, taser, prosecutions, and data) and makes 40 wide-ranging recommendations.

Current chairperson of the independent panel, professor Khylee Quince, said the recommendations included creating a "systems review" learning approach to shine light on good practice, innovation and positive outcomes.

"Ultimately, this is about meaningful system change through learning opportunities both in training and on the job. Our recommendations cover the gamut from police training, operations to service delivery."

The Understanding Policing Delivery programme was first commissioned in 2020 as police jurisdictions around the world came under close public scrutiny following the George Floyd killing and the "Black Lives Matter" movement, and policing in New Zealand was being examined with the Waitangi Tribunal Justice System Inquiry and Abuse in Care Inquiry.

Quince said evidence confirmed that how police officers conducted themselves had an influence on public trust and confidence in the police - either to strengthen that trust or to weaken it.

"There is no special treatment for anyone. If policing is not delivered in a fair and equitable way to all citizens, no matter their ethnicity, disability, sexuality or other characteristics, it requires us to investigate the root causes and make recommendations for meaningful, systemic change."

The study examined recruitment and training practices, data collection methods, and the contents of the police operations manual, focusing on how officers were prepared to enforce the law equitably and fairly.

The Police Association and the Police Officers Guild backed the approach.

Coster said he wanted to acknowledge all staff who took part in the research programme.

"I know that many welcomed the opportunity to show how hard our staff work every day to keep our communities safe, often putting their own safety at risk to do so."

Community trust was fundamental to police's ability to do the job, he said.

"Having that trust encourages more people to report crime, more to provide evidence, and more to support prevention. That's especially important for those communities currently on the wrong end of most justice sector statistics, from victims to offenders, and from use of force to prosecution."

The research highlighted areas where police systems could be better, he admitted.

Some had already been recognised by police and work was already underway to put many of the recommendations into practice.

"Too often this conversation has seen police and some communities talking past each other.

"With this research from the independent panel, I believe we have found, possibly for the first time, a way to talk about these issues together and to find ways to lift trust in the future. There is real strength in continuing with this joint approach."

Phase Two recommendations are due for release later this year.

• te ao Māori

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