Date of Award

Spring 5-22-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Professor Andrew Lindner

Second Advisor

Professor Jennifer Mueller

Third Advisor

Professor June Paul

Abstract

Conventional wisdom says that when you know better, you do better. Various theories of racism generally conform to this popular understanding, motivating colleges and businesses to invest in anti-bias trainings and other educational interventions. This study aims to make contestable the logic of ‘know better, do better’ as applied to racism through asking the question: does education predict white Democrats’ antiracist attitudes relative to their political action? Informed by Mueller’s (2020) Theory of Racial Ignorance and Hersh’s (2017) concept of ‘political hobbyism,’ I propose that white Democrats with higher levels of education will, on average, score higher on an ‘Antiracist Attitudes’ scale than white Democrats with lower levels of education. I also propose that white Democrats with higher levels of education will score lower on a ‘Political Action’ scale. Finally, I propose that white Democrats with higher levels of education will, on average, score higher on the ‘Antiracist Attitudes’ scale relative to the ’Political Action’ scale than white Democrats with lower levels of education. I test these hypotheses using the 2016 American National Election Studies (ANES) survey. The results show that education has a complicated and somewhat contradictory effect on white Democrats’ antiracist attitudes, political action, and antiracist attitudes relative to political action.

Included in

Sociology Commons

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