Effects of Anti-Black Political Messages on Self-Esteem

Abstract

This study examines how anti-Black political rhetoric affects race-specific collective selfesteem (R-CSE) and internal political efficacy among African-Americans and Whites. Results from an experiment in which subjects received an anti-Black stereotype-accentuating message attributed to either a political figure or an "ordinary American," or no message at all, demonstrate that the political message undermined how African-Americans regard their own racial group, activated beliefs about how others regard African-Americans as a predictor of how African-Americans regard their own racial group, and undermined internal political efficacy. For Whites, the results demonstrate that the political message moderated the relationship between how they regard their own racial group and beliefs about how others regard their racial group, though the political message did not significantly increase or decrease racial group-regard or political efficacy overall. These results provide empirical confirmation of the role that government and politics can play in self-esteem. Keywords: Self-esteem, race-specific collective self-esteem, internal political efficacy, antiBlack political rhetoric.In their capacity to define groups and confer status, governments inevitably affect citizens' self-esteem (Lane 1982). Yet, as research on self-esteem has grown and evolved over the last several decades, the ways that government and politics facilitate, stifle, and otherwise affect how individuals regard themselves and the groups to which they belong received little empirical examination. This study examines how political rhetoric that devalues one racial group affects self-and group-regard among the group's members and non-members. In particular, this study examines the effect of anti-Black political rhetoric on two components of self-esteem-race-specific collective self-esteem (R-CSE) and internal political efficacy-among AfricanAmericans and Whites. the anonymous reviewers for helpful feedback at various stages of this project.

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