Measures of Racial Prejudice

Types of Racial Prejudice

Researchers in the area of racial prejudice are careful to define the types of prejudice that they are attempting to measure. These include blatant, subtle, aversive, and symbolic forms of racism. Blatant racism is defined as the expression of overt disdain for people of another race. Subtle racism is defined as the expression of ideas of racial preference that are hidden behind more socially acceptable ideals, such as economic or political arguments. Aversive racism refers to unconscious racism in individuals who claim to have very liberal ideals but who will act in a prejudiced manner if given the opportunity. Symbolic racism refers to contexts in which individuals of the majority culture use their values to judge and discriminate against others of different races. Researchers do not agree on the types of racism and their measurement; therefore, there are several different theories about the proper way to measure racial prejudice.

Racial Prejudice Scales

One of the ways that psychologists traditionally measure behavior is by administering rating scales to a group of people and comparing their scores to the scores of others on the same scale. Many researchers believe that the best way to gauge someone's attitude is simply to ask them about it. Paper-and-pencil measures are usually the fastest and cheapest method of gathering information on racial attitudes from a large group of people.

Scales such as the Modern Racism Scale, the Pro-Black and Anti-Black Scales, the Diversity and Discrimination Scales, and the Subtle and Blatant Prejudice Scales ask individuals to agree or disagree with sets of statements that assess the individual's level of racial prejudice. Some of these scales are very direct in their questions, whereas others are more circumspect in their manner of questioning. Whatever the method, the scales all yield a score indicating the degree to which an individual's views are racially prejudiced compared with the views of other people from a similar background. The Subtle and Blatant Prejudice Scales are examples of a more direct approach and a more understated approach to measuring racial prejudice. Recently, researchers have used the scales in conjunction with a social desirability scale to ascertain whether the scales really measure what they claim to measure. They found that individuals who self-ascribed items on the Blatant Prejudice Scale had lower scores on the social desirability measure, and individuals who self-ascribed items on the Subtle Prejudice Scale had much higher scores on the social desirability measure. It seems that people who are more subtle in their racism may wish to be socially desirable, and therefore do not exhibit blatantly racist attitudes.

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