Attitudes about Racial Discrimination and Racial Inequality in the US: A Data-Driven Learning Guide

Goal & Concept

Goal

The goal of this module is to explore White and Black Americans' attitudes about racial discrimination and racial inequality. Crosstabulation will be used.

Concept

Race is a social category of people labeled and treated as similar because of some common traits, such as skin color, texture of hair, and shape of eyes. Racial categories are not natural, biological categories. Different societies identify different characteristics that distinguish one race from another. Racial categories are often reflected social rankings and access to resources.

Racial attitudes refer to individuals' beliefs about race, racial inequality and discrimination.

Discrimination is the unfair or unequal treatment of an individual or group based on some characteristic.

Examples of possible research questions about racial attitudes, discrimination and racial inequality:

• How do Blacks and Whites differ in their attitudes about racial discrimination?
• How do Blacks and Whites differ in their attitudes about the causes of racial inequality?
• What are Whites' attitudes about Blacks and how might their views affect their attitudes about discrimination and racial inequality?
• To what extent can racial differences in attitudes about the causes of racial inequality be explained by differences in experiences of discrimination?

Goal & Concept - Dataset - Application - Interpretation & Summary - Bibliography