The Electoral Consequences of Skin Color: The “Hidden” Side of Race in Politics
The Electoral Consequences of Skin Color: The “Hidden” Side of Race in Politics
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肤色的选举后果：政治中种族“隐藏”的一面
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发表时间：
2012
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通讯作者：
Vesla M. Weaver
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作者：
Vesla M. Weaver
尽管肤色在物质福祉和社会认知中发挥着重要作用，但学者们对于肤色和非洲中心特征是否会影响政治认知和行为，特别是除了类别差异之外的种族内差异是否会影响选民的选择，知之甚少。更多的黑人少数族裔是否会像他们在生活的大多数方面一样遭受选举惩罚？本研究通过对 2000 多名白人进行的全国代表性调查实验，调查了肤色和表型黑色面部特征对候选人评估的影响。受试者被随机分配到两名对立候选人的竞选文献中，其中候选人的种族、肤色和特征以及问题立场各不相同。我发现非洲中心表型是种族态度中一种重要但隐蔽的偏见形式，种族对候选人评估的重要性很大程度上取决于肤色和非洲中心特征。然而，与其他种族线索一样，肤色和黑人表型不会均匀地影响选民的评价，而是会以理论上可以解释的方式在选民的性别和党派构成中产生不同的程度和方向。最终，我认为，研究种族政治、隐性种族偏见和少数族裔候选人的学者忽略了种族偏见的一个重要方面。
Despite the significant role that skin color plays in material well-being and social perceptions, scholars know little if anything about whether skin color and afrocentric features influence political cognition and behavior and specifically, if intraracial variation in addition to categorical difference affects the choices of voters. Do more phenotypically black minorities suffer an electoral penalty as they do in most aspects of life? This study investigates the impact of color and phenotypically black facial features on candidate evaluation, using a nationally representative survey experiment of over 2000 whites. Subjects were randomly assigned to campaign literature of two opposing candidates, in which the race, skin color and features, and issue stance of candidates was varied. I find that afrocentric phenotype is an important, albeit hidden, form of bias in racial attitudes and that the importance of race on candidate evaluation depends largely on skin color and afrocentric features. However, like other racial cues, color and black phenotype don’t influence voters’ evaluations uniformly but vary in magnitude and direction across the gender and partisan makeup of the electorate in theoretically explicable ways. Ultimately, I argue, scholars of race politics, implicit racial bias, and minority candidates are missing an important aspect of racial bias.