Michael I. Norton1 and Samuel R. Sommers2
1Harvard Business School, Boston, MA, and 2
Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA
ABSTRACT
Although some have heralded recent political and cultural developments as signaling the arrival of a post-racial era in America, several legal and social controversies regarding “reverse racism” highlight Whites’ increasing concern about anti-White bias. We show that this emerging belief reflects Whites’ view of racism as a zero-sum game, such that decreases in perceived bias against Blacks over the past six decades are associated with increases in perceived bias against Whites-a relationship not observed in Blacks’ perceptions. Moreover, these changes in Whites’ conceptions of racism are extreme enough that Whites have now come to view anti-White bias as a bigger societal problem than anti-Black bias.KEYWORDS
Racism; Zero-sum Game; Bias; Affirmative Action; Prejudice and Bias; Race; Social Issues; United States
CITATION
Norton, Michael I., and Samuel R. Sommers. “Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game That They Are Now Losing.” Perspectives on Psychological Science 6, no. 3 (May 2011): 215–218.
