Study: Prejudice fuels opinions

By Jeannie Baumann

Daily Staff Reporter

A study released yesterday by the University finds racial prejudice to be the primary reason why whites reported opposing affirmative action.

"The findings are important because of the growing evidence that the gap in economic status between blacks and whites is still wide and shows few signs of narrowing," said psychology Prof. James Jackson in a written statement.

The study, which Jackson conducted with sociology Prof. David R. Williams at the University's Institute for Social Research, compared the relationship between a respondent's opinions about affirmative action and their socioeconomic status, political viewpoints and degrees of racial prejudice.

More than half of the adults surveyed indicated they supported affirmative action practices.

But white respondents who said they seldom felt any sympathy or admiration for black people were also more likely to oppose the practice of affirmative action. The study also found that whites were more likely to oppose affirmative action practices when they agreed with blatantly racial statements, such as blacks have gotten more than they deserve and blame whites too much for their problems.

Researchers defined this type of prejudice as the "subtle, contemporary kind."

But the study found whites with self-proclaimed prejudice views, including the belief that their own race in inherently superior, supported affirmative action practices.

White respondents who said they believed in equal opportunity were also more likely to support affirmative action.

Williams said the findings seem to be counter-intuitive.

"They are also inconsistent with the claim that a commitment to core American values of individualism is what underlies white opposition to improve the status of blacks," he said in a written statement. He said he hopes to conduct more research to find out why this is the case.

Williams and Jackson interviewed more than 1,100 adults in the Detroit area for the study.

"The racial attitudes of Detroit-area whites are generally similar to that of whites in other large areas. But Detroit-area whites show much higher support for affirmative action than whites do nationally," Williams said.

The study, published in the current issue of the journal Social Problems, specifically addressed white adult perspectives about blacks and did not inquire about any other underrepresented minority group. It was conducted in 1995, two years before the lawsuit opposing the use of race as a factor in admissions was brought against the University's Law School and College of Literature, Science and the Arts.

Jessica Curtin, a member of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary, said there is a difference between the average white person and those actively seeking to end affirmative action practices.

"The run-of-the-mill white person who opposes affirmative action have a complex mixture of both prejudice and ignorance," she said. "People are confused by the misleading rhetoric by affirmative action. The more educated a person is about affirmative action, the more likely they are to support it."