Sociocultural engagement in a colorblind racism framework moderates perceptions of cultural appropriation*

Cultural appropriation refers to an action whereby an individual makes use of, imitates, or takes possession of cultural products of an outgroup or source community. Compared to Black Americans, many White Americans do not differentiate between high (i.e., White) and low (i.e., Black) status actors when making judgments of cultural appropriation (Mosley & Biernat, 2021). The goal of the current research is to assess why some individuals exhibit a lack of recognition of structural and historical racism when making judgments of cultural appropriation. To answer this question, we draw on theoretical work on colorblind racism, a framework of racial ideologies that emphasize that group differences should be ignored, and that people should be treated as individuals (Bonilla-Silva, 2006). Three experiments investigate the colorblind - racism hypothesis: perceivers who are highly invested in a colorblind racism ideology -assessed along three dimensions including racial group identification, historical knowledge of racism, and endorsement of assimilationist ideologies-will see equal levels of appropriation in the actions of White and Black perpetrators. In contrast, perceivers low in a colorblind ideology will see White (versus Black) actors as more culturally appropriative. We see for evidence for this hypothesis among White (Studies 1-2) and Black (Study 3) perceivers. These findings suggest that endorsement in a colorblind ideology can facilitate ignorance of power differences between groups when perceiving cultural appropriation.