Measures of Racial Prejudice: Modern Racism Scale

The Modern Racism Scale (MRS) was developed to measure subtle forms of racism that are prevalent in the United States today and includes questions that indirectly relate to racial attitudes. This newer and subtler form of racism comprises subconscious attitudes and may present itself as an endorsement of exaggerated ethnic differences or a rejection of minorities for supposed nonracial reasons. Current measures of racism (e.g., the MRS) were developed because older scales used very blatant questions to gauge racism–for example, “Do you agree or disagree that African Americans are inferior to Caucasians?” or “Do you think that it is a bad idea for African Americans and Caucasians to intermarry?” Because we are concerned with political correctness in the United States, individuals who are administered the ...