| Popis: |
While race relations remain a divisive and controversial issue, very few studies examine the relationship between negative racial attitudes, American Values and Affirmative Action. This study examined the relationship of variables referred to here as “Perceiver Characteristics” (i.e., race, gender, and race saliency) and “Values Expectancy” (i.e., Modern Racism, Color Blindness, and American Values) to the endorsement of Affirmative Action Policy. This study recruited 207 undergraduate students to participate in an online survey using a battery of measures including the Attitude Toward Affirmative Action Scale (Kravitz & Platania, 1993), the Modern Racism Scale (McConahay, 1983), the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (Neville, Lily, Duran, Lee & Browne, 2000), The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney,1992), and the American Values Scale (Citrin, Reingold & Green, 1990). The findings revealed that White males scored higher in Modern Racism than African American males and females, but not White females. White males also scored lower in Affirmative Action Endorsement than African American males, but not White and African American females. Color Blindness and Modern Racism were inversely related to the endorsement of Affirmative Action programs. The current study also found that individuals who identified as high in American Values tended to also be high in Modern Racism and Color Blindness. Lastly, study findings revealed that Modern Racism and Color Blindness mediated the relationship of both gender, and race to Affirmative Action policy endorsement. A key finding of this study was that a person’s race, or gender, may influence their levels of Modern Racism, and/or Color Blindness, which may influence their Affirmative Action endorsement. Implications for future research are provided. |
