Race and Political Belief

当代关于美国人对种族问题态度的所有研究都集中在提出关于美国白人对种族平等价值观的承诺的根本问题上。特别是，对白人种族态度的怀疑引发了两个问题。首先，美国人对种族平等价值观的承诺有多大的灵活性？在原则层面支持种族平等价值的美国人在实践中支持它吗？第二，涉及歧视问题。在多大程度上，美国人不仅可能对黑人持负面态度，而且会以不同的方式对待他们，而且比白人更糟糕？直到最近，这两个问题都是遥不可及的，因为没有办法直接在传统的民意调查中进行研究。这项研究调查的一个主要贡献是为直接评估种族歧视和政策承诺制定和应用具体的新方法。为了评估歧视，研究人员询问了所有受访者人们是否有权获得各种形式的政府援助，其中一半需要援助的人是黑人，另一半不是黑人。目标是确定帮助非黑人的人是否比帮助黑人的人得到更多的支持。如果存在歧视的证据，则可被视为歧视的证据，因为问题版本是相同的，除了一个将需要援助的人标识为黑人，另一个将他或她标识为非黑人，而且由于被随机分配到问题版本，答复者本身在所有相关方面都是相同的，不考虑机会差异。为了评估对种族平等价值的承诺，受访者首先被问及他们对种族政策提案的看法，一旦他们采取了立场，他们就会得到相反的论点。对承诺的考验是，即使在听取了对方的论点后，是否愿意保持立场。除了衡量歧视和政策承诺外，调查人员还使用标准措施衡量一系列态度和人口变量，以提高数据集的可比性。其目的是不仅能够确定是否存在种族歧视，而且能够确定哪些社会条件和社会观念最有效地防止种族歧视。

All the lines of contemporary research on American attitudes toward the issue of race converge in raising fundamental questions about the commitment of white Americans to the value of racial equality. In particular, skepticism about white racial attitudes raises two questions. First, how pliable is the commitment of Americans to the value of racial equality? Do Americans who support the value of racial equality at the level of principle stand behind it in practice? The second, concerns the issue of discrimination. To what extent do Americans remain likely not only to hold negative attitudes toward blacks, but also to treat them differently and worse than whites? These two questions were out of reach until just recently, since there was no way to study either directly in a conventional public opinion survey. A principle contribution of this research investigation is to develop and apply specific new methods for the direct assessment of racial discrimination and policy commitment. To assess discrimination the researchers ask all respondents about whether people are entitled to various forms of government assistance, with one half the time the person in need of assistance being black, the other half not black. The objective is to determine if there is more support for helping people who are not black than for helping people who are. It may be considered proof of discrimination if there is, since the question versions are identical except for one identifying the person in need of assistance as black and the other identifying him or her as not black, and since respondents, by virtue of being randomly assigned to question versions, are themsleves identical in all relevant respects, chance variations aside. To assess commitment to the value of racial equality, respondents are first asked their opinion about a racial policy proposal and once they have taken a position, they are presented with a counter argument. The test of commitment is the willingness to maintain a position even after hearing an argument for the other side. In addition to measuring discrimination and policy commitment, the investigators also measure an array of attitudinal and demographic variables, using standard measures to enhance the comparability of the data set. The aim is to be able to determine not only if there is racial discrimination, but what social conditions and social ideas are most effective in preventing it.