Social Distance as a Measure of Prejudice Among Ethnic Groups in the United States

Abstract

Data from surveys representative of the population of the United States were used to investigate 2 aspects of social distance as a measure of prejudice among Hispanics, non-Hispanic Whites, Jews, Asians, and Blacks. The results extended through 2000 a 65-year decline in prejudice. But, contrary to expectations, these groups were, on average, significantly opposed to virtually all other ethnic groups living in their neighborhoods or marrying their close relatives. The findings suggest that the popular hierarchical explanation of social distances with Whites at the top, Jews next, followed by Asians and Hispanics, and Blacks at the bottom is incorrect. A more accurate explanation is proposed.

Race modulates neural activity during imitation

“…Importantly, the racial outgroups in our study also differed in perceived social status. Chinese American individuals and East Asians in general, often referred to as a model minority, are typically regarded as having a higher social status than African Americans (Bobo and Zubrinsky, 1996; Fiske et al, 2007; Link and Oldendick, 1996; Weaver, 2008), and by certain metrics have even been regarded as having a similar or even higher status than European Americans (Wong et al, 1998). Thus, it is possible that the greater recruitment of imitation-related neural structures during imitation of African Americans reflects a reduced propensity of participants to imitate these individuals in their daily lives due to the lower status attributed to this minority group, similar to the prestige and success related imitation biases described by Boyd and Richerson (1987).…”

“…One would also not expect this effect to diminish with practice, as perceptions of self-similarity related to race presumably remain constant over time. In contrast, if unfamiliarity with imitating those from groups perceived to be low in status is driving increased activity when imitating African Americans, then African and European Americans should exhibit similar neural activity during imitation of African Americans, as individuals from both racial groups have been found to rate African Americans as having lower status (Bobo and Zubrinsky, 1996; Fiske et al, 2007; Link and Oldendick, 1996; Weaver, 2008). In this case, one would predict that enhanced activity during imitation of African Americans would diminish with practice in line with evidence that imitating familiar actions is associated with decreased neural activity compared to imitating more novel actions (Buccino et al, 2004; Vogt et al, 2007).…”

“…We chose these two outgroups both because they represent the two most populous racial minorities in the United States (Humes et al, 2011) and because they differ in a number of other factors for which race is a proxy (e.g., perceived social status). White Americans typically report more positive attitudes about Asians than African Americans both in general (Link and Oldendick, 1996) and as social partners including neighbors (Bobo and Zubrinsky, 1996; Weaver, 2008) and spouses (Weaver, 2008). African Americans are also consistently viewed as having a lower social status than East Asians among U.S. minority groups (Fiske et al, 1999, 2002).…”

Improving upon Bogardus: Creating a More Sensitive and Dynamic Social Distance Scale

“…Results are used to determine which groups in a society are more socially close and distant (Parrillo and Donoghue 2005). These findings are then employed to uncover linkages between social distance and prejudice, hostility, discrimination, and other social phenomenon (cf., Halperin et al 2007;Weaver 2008).…”

Hispanic Prejudice in the United States

“…Continuing this literature review, another study (Weaver, 2008) also estimated prejudice among ethnic groups in the population, but the current study is different in a number of ways. Weaver considered only social distance; the present study considers social distance and stereotypes.…”