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- Title
Beliefs That White People Are Poor, Above and Beyond Beliefs That Black People Are Poor, Predict White (But Not Black) Americans' Attitudes Toward Welfare Recipients and Policy.
- Authors
Cooley, Erin; Brown-Iannuzzi, Jazmin L.; Lei, Ryan F.; Cipolli, William; Philbrook, Lauren E.
- Abstract
In past work, White Americans' beliefs about Black poverty have predicted lower perceived work ethic of the poor, and, thus, less welfare support. In this article, we examine whether beliefs about White poverty predict more positive attributions about the poor among three representative samples of White Americans. Study 1 reveals that White (but not Black) Americans' White-poor beliefs predict increased perceptions that welfare recipients are hardworking, which predict more welfare support. Study 2 demonstrates that the link between White Americans' White-poor beliefs and the humanization of welfare recipients is stronger among White Americans who feel intergroup status threat (i.e., those who hold racial zero-sum beliefs). Study 3 replicates and extends Study 2 by using an experimental approach. Together, these data suggest that White Americans' White-poor beliefs function to humanize welfare recipients as a means to justify policies that could help the ingroup, preserving the racial status quo.
- Subjects
WHITE people; BLACK people; PUBLIC welfare policy; INGROUPS (Social groups); WORK ethic; INCOME inequality; RACIAL &; ethnic attitudes; AMERICAN attitudes
- Publication
Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 2024, Vol 50, Issue 3, p450
- ISSN
0146-1672
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1177/01461672221139071