DDRIG in DRMS: The Effects of Internalized Cultural Inferiority on Political Attitudes and Behavior

非白人个体面临着接受或接受种族刻板印象和意识形态的社会压力，这些刻板印象和意识形态将自己的种族群体定性为劣等，这是一种内化的文化自卑现象。现有研究表明，内化的文化自卑会导致非白人个体的心理和身体健康状况不佳。这个项目研究了这种心态如何影响黑人与政府的互动，特别是在大多数公民都是黑人的环境中。历史上的种族刻板印象和意识形态表明，黑人不是有能力的公民或政治领袖。因此，接受这些观点的黑人可能会较少参与政治，并且/或者对黑人领导的政府的评判会更加严厉。理解这些影响很重要，因为负面刻板印象可能强大到足以创造自我实现的预言；换句话说，随着时间的推移，刻板印象实际上会降低政府服务的客观质量。这项研究强调了种族不平等是如何繁殖和维持自身的，即使在政治平等的当代法律障碍最小的情况下也是如此。在某些情况下，学者和活动人士认为这种心态是殖民主义和帝国主义无处不在、持续存在且具有破坏性的遗产。尽管如此，社会科学家在很大程度上忽视了这种社会弊病，限制了对其流行程度、后果和缓解方法的了解。本研究通过提供测量工具和识别由内化文化自卑引起的潜在社会危害，更好地为政策制定者和实践者提供装备。该研究项目调查了600名黑人受访者，以实现两个目标。首先，研究人员开发了一种新的量表来衡量这种心态。这个量表比现有的量表短得多——只有4到6个项目——这使得社会科学家更容易进行与政策相关的研究。其次，本调查提供证据来检验这种心态如何影响黑人个人的政治态度、信仰和行为。特别是，它检验了以下假设：这种心态(1)降低了自我评估的政治能力，以及投票和采取其他政治行动的倾向；(2)对黑人领导下的政府表现产生了更多不利的评价。同一项调查同时收集规模开发和假设检验的数据，作为节省成本的措施；然而，研究人员在检查政治数据之前确定了量表，以防止对他们自己的假设产生偏见。通过加深对这种心态的原因和后果的理解，本研究为政策制定者减少内化文化自卑的努力提供了有用的信息。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-White individuals face social pressure to accept or embrace racial stereotypes and ideologies that characterize their own racial groups as inferior, a phenomenon of internalized cultural inferiority. Existing research demonstrates that internalized cultural inferiority can generate poor mental and physical health among non-White individuals. This project examines how this mentality affects Black individuals’ interactions with government, specifically in settings where most citizens are Black. Historical racial stereotypes and ideologies suggest that Black individuals are not capable citizens or political leaders. As a result, Black individuals who accept these ideas may participate in politics less and/or judge Black-led governments more harshly than they otherwise would. Understanding these effects is important because negative stereotypes can be powerful enough to create self-fulfilling prophecies; in other words, stereotypes can actually degrade the objective quality of government services over time. This research highlights how racial inequality may reproduce and sustain itself, even in cases with minimal contemporary legal barriers to political equality. Scholars and activists in certain contexts have identified this mentality as a ubiquitous, persistent, and damaging legacy of colonialism and imperialism. Nonetheless, social scientists have largely ignored this social ill in these contexts, limiting knowledge about its prevalence, its consequences, and means of mitigating it. This research better equips policymakers and practitioners by providing measurement tools and by identifying potential social harms arising from an internalized cultural inferiority.This research project surveys six hundred Black respondents to accomplish two goals. First, the researchers develop a new scale to measure this mentality. This scale is substantially shorter than existing scales – only four to six items – making it easier for social scientists to conduct policy-relevant research. Second, this survey generates evidence to examine how this mentality affects Black individuals’ political attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. In particular, it tests hypotheses that this mentality (1) reduces self-assessed political competency, as well as propensity to vote and take other political action, and (2) generates more unfavorable evaluations of government performance under Black leadership. The same survey collects data for both scale development and hypothesis testing simultaneously as a cost saving measure; however, the researchers finalize the scale before examining political data to prevent generating bias toward their own hypotheses. By increasing understanding of the causes and consequences of a this mentality, the research provides useful information for policy makers in their efforts to reduce internalized cultural inferiority.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.