A Distorted Nation: Perceptions of Racial/Ethnic Group Sizes and Attitudes toward Immigrants and Other Minorities

Autor/inn/en	Alba, Richard D.; Rumbaut, Ruben G.; Marotz, Karen
Titel	A Distorted Nation: Perceptions of Racial/Ethnic Group Sizes and Attitudes toward Immigrants and Other Minorities
Quelle	In: Social Forces, 84 (2005) 2, S.901-919 (19 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0037-7732
Schlagwörter	Racial Composition; Negative Attitudes; Ethnic Groups; Whites; Immigrants; Beliefs; African Americans; Minority Groups; Hispanic Americans; United States; General Social Survey + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Negative Fixierung; Ethnie; White; Weißer; Immigrant; Immigrantin; Immigranten; Belief; Glaube; Afroamerikaner; Ethnische Minderheit; Hispanic; Hispanoamerikaner; USA
Abstract	Using a special module (MEUS) of the 2000 General Social Survey, we investigate Americans' perceptions of the racial and ethnic composition of the United States. We show that, because of innumeracy, it is critical to gauge perceptions through relative, rather than absolute, group sizes. Even so, it appears that, as of 2000, roughly half of Americans believed that whites had become a numerical minority; such perceptions were even more common among minority-group members than among whites. Majority-group respondents' perceptions of the relative sizes of minorities affect their attitudes towards immigrants, blacks and Hispanics, with those having the most distorted perceptions holding the most negative attitudes. Although perceptions of group sizes in the nation are linked to the perceived racial/ethnic composition of the communities where respondents reside, the effects of the former on attitudes are largely independent of the latter. Our findings highlight the frequently overlooked value of an old bromide against prejudice: education. (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10