Identity Politics, Race, and AntiRacism with Professor Lilliana Mason
The AntiRacist Table・50 minutes read
Kirsten and Lynn created the Anti-Racist Table, a platform promoting anti-racism with a 30-day challenge, focusing on allyship and co-conspiratorship. Professor Mason's research highlights intense intergroup animosity and partisanship driving significant divides in American politics.
Insights
- The Anti-Racist Table, founded by Kirsten and Lynn, offers a 30-day challenge promoting anti-racism through self-pacing and group participation, providing tools and support for individuals to actively combat societal divides and become allies in the fight against racism.
- Professor Liliana Mason's research on social sorting in the US electorate reveals intense intergroup animosity based on ideological identity, religiosity, and race, with strong partisan identities leading to emotional reactions, violence endorsement, and moral disengagement, highlighting the critical role of education and systemic change in reducing polarization and promoting social justice.
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Recent questions
How did the Anti-Racist Table platform start?
Kirsten and Lynn created it.
Who is Professor Liliana Mason?
An expert in identity politics.
What is the significance of social identity theory?
Explains intergroup conflict and bias.
How have partisan divides evolved in America?
Shifted around ideological identity, religiosity, and race.
What are the predictors of endorsing violence in politics?
Strong partisan identity, aggression, and social attachment.
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Summary
00:00
"Anti-Racist Table: 30-Day Challenge Upgrade"
- Kirsten and Lynn created the Anti-Racist Table, a platform promoting anti-racism as a daily practice through a 30-day challenge.
- The platform recently upgraded to allow self-pacing and group participation in the challenge.
- Participants are encouraged to take concrete steps to be allies and co-conspirators in the face of societal divides.
- The challenge offers a framework, tools, and emotional support for engaging in anti-racism work.
- Professor Liliana Mason is highlighted as a guest with expertise in identity politics, timely given current events.
- A land acknowledgment is made to recognize the indigenous people and their land, inspired by Ruth King.
- Professor Mason, an associate professor at the University of Maryland, specializes in political psychology and social polarization.
- Mason's research on partisan identity and social sorting reveals a lack of policy-based polarization but intense intergroup animosity.
- Social identity theory, as studied by Tajfel, explains how even weak group identities can lead to intergroup conflict and bias.
- Mason's work on social sorting in the US electorate shows how interconnected identities amplify the impact of losses on individuals' self-esteem and group affiliations.
17:40
Growing Partisan Divide: Ideology, Religion, Violence
- In the 1970s, America experienced small differences in social groups, particularly in church attendance and party affiliations, with conservatives leaning more towards the Republican side.
- By 2016, these differences had significantly increased, with conservatives aligning more with Republicans, a doubling of the racial divide between parties, and a shift towards Republicans among white people and church attendees.
- The main divides now revolve around ideological identity, religiosity, and race, leading to significant partisan divides.
- Experiments showed that individuals with strong partisan identities reacted emotionally to threats against their party, while those with cross-cutting identities remained calm.
- Anger can lead to political activism, but it can also fuel erroneous beliefs, conspiracy theories, and even violence.
- Political violence, particularly from right-wing groups, has been increasing, with concerns raised by think tanks about the potential for terrorism, especially around election times.
- Research aimed to measure the extent of radical partisanship and found stable trends in beliefs about the other party being a threat, evil, or animal-like.
- A significant portion of Americans expressed approval for violence, with a rise in justifying violence for political goals post-election.
- Partisan differences in attitudes towards violence were not substantial, with similar percentages of Democrats and Republicans rejecting violent actions.
- Factors like strong partisan identity, aggression, and social attachment to one's party were predictors of endorsing violence and moral disengagement from the other party, while education tended to reduce moral disengagement.
34:40
Belief, Resentment, Disengagement: Political Attitudes Analyzed
- The measurement tool assesses belief in systemic criticism, focusing on various minority groups overcoming prejudice without special treatment.
- Racial resentment levels are depicted on a scale, with zero indicating no resentment and one representing high resentment.
- Moral disengagement levels for Democrats and Republicans vary based on racial resentment levels, with Democrats showing decreased disengagement towards Republicans as resentment increases, while Republicans exhibit the opposite trend.
- Democrats tend to score lower in racial resentment compared to Republicans, making racism a conflicting attitude for Democrats but an aligned one for Republicans.
- Sexism levels are also measured, with Democrats showing no significant effect on their views towards Republicans based on sexism, while Republicans who are not sexist are more sympathetic towards Democrats.
- Democrats generally score lower on sexism scales than Republicans, influencing their attitudes towards each other.
- Violent events can increase approval of political violence temporarily, with messages from leaders like Biden against violence having a positive impact on reducing approval among strong partisans.
- Scholars warn of a potential civil war due to converging racial, ethnic, religious, and partisan divides, historically linked to civil conflicts.
- Positive shifts in racial attitudes, particularly among white Democrats, suggest progress towards racial equality, although backlash from those benefiting from traditional hierarchies is expected.
- The path towards a more egalitarian society is challenging, with ongoing resistance, but efforts to educate and mobilize enough individuals can drive progress towards social justice.
52:07
"Political Sorting and Polarization in America"
- The social sorting changed significantly from 1972 to 2016 due to a partisan realignment around race, starting with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which led conservative white southerners to leave the Democratic Party and join the Republican Party over a generation.
- The religious right was courted by the Republican Party in the 1980s and 90s, leading to religious sorting, alongside the rise of partisan cable news and the internet, which facilitated the sorting process.
- The Obama presidency triggered a white racial backlash within the Democratic Party, with Trump openly embracing racist sentiments, further exacerbating the racial divide.
- Approval of violence among Republicans increased after the Capitol attack but quickly declined, indicating a temporary surge in support for violence.
- Trump has discussed starting a Patriot Party, but the American electoral system favors a two-party structure, making a breakaway party challenging to sustain.
- A potential solution could involve moderate Republicans forming a caucus within the party that occasionally votes with Democrats, akin to the realignment seen with Southern Democrats in the past, reducing polarization.
- Republicans who exhibit low racism and sexism are less morally disengaged than Democrats, suggesting that this group could play a crucial role in mitigating polarization within the party.
