Income Inequality and Prejudice in the US

Abstract

How does income inequality impact intergroup relations in the US? I used a multilevel modeling approach to test the effects of income inequality on attitudes toward US minority groups from the American Election Studies, from 1970-2008. Rising income inequality as measured by Gini predicted prejudice towards African Americans by White Americans across states and time. Rising income inequality did not predict prejudice towards other racial groups, and neither did it predict prejudice among mixed-race Americans towards non-racial low-status groups (homosexuals and illegal immigrants). The results are discussed in the context of group position theory (Blumer, 1958) and the Black exceptionalism hypothesis (Sears & Savalei, 2006). Whites' attitudes towards Blacks are deeply embedded into American political and socio-economic structure; they shift with changes that income inequality brings into the structure.