WHITE RESPONSE TO BLACK DEATH A Racialized Theory of White Attitudes Towards Gun Control

被引:7
作者
Walker, Hannah [1 ]
Collingwood, Loren [2 ]
Bunyasi, Tehama Lopez [3 ]
机构
[1] Univ Texas Austin, Dept Govt, Austin, TX 78712 USA
[2] Univ New Mexico, Dept Polit Sci, Albuquerque, NM 87131 USA
[3] George Mason Univ, Carter Sch Peace & Conflict Resolut, Fairfax, VA 22030 USA
关键词
Gun Control; Racial Attitudes; Gun Violence; Racial Resentment; Public Health; POLICY PREFERENCES; MASS SHOOTINGS; MENTAL-ILLNESS; RACE; CRIME; MEDIA; OWNERSHIP; VIOLENCE; SUPPORT; NEWS;
D O I
10.1017/S1742058X20000156
中图分类号
C95 [民族学、文化人类学];
学科分类号
0304 ; 030401 ;
摘要
In the United States, Blacks overwhelmingly bear the brunt of gun violence. While Blacks are more likely to favor gun restrictions than are Whites, the influence of Black gun death on Whites' attitudes about gun control has not been investigated. We advance a theory to explain White response to Black firearm fatalities: Black gun death is explicitly and implicitly racialized in the public discourse and imagination. The roots of the gun control debate are themselves likewise racialized, and portrayals of Black gun death has the potential to tap latent racial biases among Whites. As a consequence, exposure to routinized Black gun death either fails to move White opinion, or moves Whites to greater support for gun rights. The influence of race on White public opinion is particularly concerning in an era when health officials consider gun death a public health crisis. First, we evaluate this theory with a regression discontinuity (RDD) analysis of the effects of a highly salient gun death of a young Black boy in Chicago on Whites' opinions about gun control. Relative to White people interviewed before the death, White people interviewed after the death record greater opposition to gun control. Second, we fielded a survey experiment, exposing respondents to the reported gun homicide of either Black or White thirteen-year-old boys. Relative to a control, respondents in the Black death condition are unmoved, whereas respondents in the White death condition report greater levels of support for gun control. Implications are discussed.
引用
收藏
页码:165 / 188
页数:24
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