There is an ongoing debate within American society over the extent to which African-
Americans’ daily life is characterized by continuing racial discrimination, especially in the
areas of employment and education. As legal barriers to black participation in American
society have steadily been removed since the 1950s and 1960s, whites have increasingly
questioned the persisting pervasiveness of racial discrimination. At the same time, black
Americans continue to experience and perceive widespread discrimination, reflected in their
experiences with law enforcement, sales clerks, and employers (Feagin 1990). This racial
schism in the perception of contemporary discrimination crates very divergent views between
blacks and whites on the extensiveness of black opportunity and the reasons for persistent
black poverty (Kinder and Winter 2001; Schuman et al 1997). These conflicting racial
viewpoints raise pertinent questions about the extent to which perceived discrimination is a
reflection of reality or a defense of existing racial attitudes.
White rejection of continued racial discrimination within American society has often
been construed by researchers of race relations as evidence of persistent white racism. This
view is most prevalent among researchers of new racism, a subtle racial prejudice conveyed
through white opposition to black demands and resentment at their special treatment (Bobo,
Kluegel and Smith 1997; Kinder and Sanders 1996; McConahay and Hough 1976; Henry
and Sears 2000). There are a number of different measures of the new racism – including
symbolic racism, modern racism, and racial resentment – but all share a common definition
as support for the belief that blacks are demanding and undeserving, and do not require any
form of special government assistance (Henry and Sears 2002; Kinder and Sears, 1981;
Kinder and Sanders 1996; McConahay and Hough, 1976).
The denial of racial discrimination is commonly tied up with white resentment at
black demands and has often been included explicitly as a measure of the new racism. For
example, a question in the widely used racial resentment scale asks whether “generations of
slavery and discrimination have created conditions that make it difficult for blacks to work
their way out of the lower class” (Kinder and Sanders 1996; Tarman and Sears 2005).
Another asks whether “government officials usually pay less attention to a request or
complaint from a black person than from a white person” (Kinder and Sanders 1996). And a
question in the symbolic racism scale assesses “How much discrimination against blacks do
you feel there is in the United States today, limiting their chances to get ahead?” (Tarman and
Sears 2005; see also Henry and Sears 2002). In all instances, rejection of continued racial
discrimination is treated as an indicator of racial prejudice.
Convention