PREDICTORS OF RACIAL LABEL PREFERENCE IN DETROIT: EXAMINING TRENDS FROM 1971 TO 1992

This study examined African Americans' racial label preferences at two time points using data collected in the 1971 and 1992 Detroit Area Studies. Survey respondents chose from the following racial labels: Black, Negro, Colored, Afro-American, African American, or no preference/it makes no difference which label. At both time points, there were significant differences in age and education by preferred labels but gender and income differences by preferred labels were not statistically significant. Racial label preference was associated with protest ideology and perceptions of Whites' discriminatory intent in 1971 and with perceptions of Whites' discriminatory intent in 1992. In multivariate analyses, age, gender, protest ideology, and the perception of Whites' intent were significant predictors of emergent racial labels. Suggestions for future research on the relationship between institutional inequality, self-designation, and identity were discussed.     

Correction to "The Polls: Environmental Protection"

In "The Polls: Environmental Protection" (POQ 50 (2):273) thefollowing figures are the correct ones: NORC-GSS, 1985, Toomuch: 8%, Dk: 4%; Roper, 1983, Too far: 14%.     

"Coloured Power" or "Coloured Bourgeoisie"? Political Attitudes among South African Coloureds

Why have Coloureds in South Africa—people of mixed racialdescent—voiced less opposition to white minority rulethan have black Africans? A theoretical analysis suggests thatColoureds feel both "relatively deprived" in comparison withwhites and "relatively gratified" in comparison with Africans,that they believe they may eventually be accepted by whites,and that individually they have difficulty identifying withthe broader Coloured community; in short, seemingly ideal conditionsfor the emergence of a "Coloured Bourgeoisie" rather than a"Coloured Power" ideology.     

Reporting "The Polls" in 2004

Media reports of polls indicate how well public opinion pollshave been integrated into campaign coverage. This article examineshow polls were used in 2004. Although there were relativelylimited methodological changes in how polls were conducted in2004, there were changes in how the polls were treated in themedia. Americans in 2004 were subjected to intense debates aboutpolls and to as much reporting about "the polls" as there wasof the polls themselves. The discussion of "the polls" in 2004included claims of electability during the Democratic nominatingprocess, increased reporting about methodological issues, andheightened political criticisms of "the polls." The articleconcludes with a discussion of the current state and the futureof news polling.     

"BY PUBLIC OPINION I MEAN"--

"Where all people talk on the same subject, they should be agreedabout the vocabulary with which they discuss it: or, at anyrate, they should be aware that they are not agreed."     

FROM RACISM TO TOKENISM: THE CHANGING FACE OF BLACKS IN NEW YORKER CARTOONS

Cartoons published in the weekly magazine New Yorker duringthe years 1946–87 were analyzed to determine how oftenblacks appeared as characters and whether the proportion ofblacks portrayed had changed over time. Cartoons were furtherexamined for possible changes in the styles of characterizationof U.S. blacks since the post-Word War II period. Although blackcharacters were extremely rare throughout the 42 years, therelative numbers of blacks depicted decreased with the passageof each time period. Styles of portraying black characters alsochanged markedly over the years, in keeping with the changingstatus of blacks in the United States. All cartoons from theearliest period presented U.S. blacks in stereotypic occupationalroles, cartoons in the late 1960s and early 1970s were dominatedby racial themes, and blacks appeared in "token" roles in themajority of cartoons from the most recent period investigated.In the entire 42 years, only a single U.S. black appeared asa main character in a cartoon in which race was completely irrelevant.     

THE IMPACT OF SCHOOL RACIAL COMPOSITIONS ON NEIGHBORHOOD RACIAL COMPOSITIONS: EVIDENCE FROM SCHOOL REDISTRICTING

I use data surrounding public school redistricting to study how school racial compositions affect neighborhood racial compositions. This redistricting followed from the end of court‐ordered busing for racial desegregation, significantly changing the racial composition of the assigned school for many neighborhoods. Over a 5‐year period, the impact of an increase in the percent black of the assigned elementary school on the percent black of the neighborhood was positive. The effects increased over time, consistent with a simple model of short‐run neighborhood racial dynamics. These results have implications for potential effects of school racial desegregation policy changes on neighborhood racial compositions. (JEL H75, I28, R23)     

FAMILY LIFE AND AMERICAN POLITICS: THE "MARRIAGE GAP" RECONSIDERED

In recent years, several writers have identified marital statusas a potentially important line of political cleavage, observingthat singles are more likely to vote Democratic than marriedvoters are. Changes in both the structure of American familiesand in the salience of "family politics" in the policy arenasuggest increased attention to the political consequences ofmarital status and family life-style. This paper contributesto advancing theory concerning the relationship between familylife and politics, and empirically evaluating several competinghypotheses concerning the so-called marriage gap in the 1972through 1988 presidential elections.     

THE TREND IN "NO RELIGION" RESPONDENTS TO U.S. NATIONAL SURVEYS, LATE 1950s TO EARLY 1980s

Data from 110 U.S. national surveys are used to study the trendin "no religion" responses from the late 1950s to the early1980s. The trend was monotonically upward, at least until the1980s, when there were signs of leveling off or an incipientreversal of the trend. The trend came about through both changeswithin birth cohorts and cohort succession, and it involvedpersons of all major religious backgrounds and both men andwomen. Whether or not the change indicates an important degreeof secularization is considered at length. Problems involvedin using a dichotomous indicator to gauge change in a quantitativevariable are discussed.     

"Little" and "Big" Pictures in Our Heads: Race, Local Context, and Innumeracy About Racial Groups in the United States

Americans do not know what percentage of the nation's residentsare whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians.Using the 2000 General Social Survey, I find that respondentsof all races underestimate the percentages of whites and overestimatethe percentages of racial/ethnic minority groups and multiracialAmericans in the United States; however, they perceive theirlocal communities quite differently. As a first step towardunderstanding this discrepancy, I test whether individuals’local surroundings serve as a source of information for theirpictures of the United States. I examine the relationship between"objective" data and respondents’ subjective perceptionsof where they live, and compare their respective effects onAmericans’ perceptions of the nation. Multivariate multilevelanalyses show that respondents’ perceptions of differentracial group sizes in their communities are the strongest predictorsof innumeracy at the national level, while "objective" racialcontext measured at the local level has less of an effect. Thesefindings have important implications for research on racialcontext, which assumes that census numbers for respondents’locales are good proxies for their perceptions of the size ofracial/ethnic groups in their communities. Furthermore, thesefindings suggest that scholars need to start thinking aboutwhy whites and non-whites have similar "big pictures" of thenation, why their "little pictures" vary a great deal, and whythe motivations for over- and underestimation may differ byracial/ethnic group.     

"Some of my best friends are black...": Interracial Friendship and Whites' Racial Attitudes

We examine the major tenets and assumptions of the well-knowncontact theory of prejudice, and we compare them with the morecynical reasoning implied by the infamous "Some of my best friendsare black, but..." expression. After assessing the extant evidencefor the contact theory, we use a unique set of national surveydata to address the central postulates of that theory. We examinethe racial beliefs, feelings, social dispositions, and policyviews of whites who have contact with blacks as friends, acquaintances,or neighbors. Our results suggest that personal interracialcontact is selective in its effects on whites' racial attitudes,that intimacy is less important than variety of contacts, andthat any effects are contingent on the relative socioeconomicstatus of black contacts. On the basis of our analysis, we reassessthe contact theory and propose a more political conception ofthe attitudes of dominant groups toward subordinates. We arguethat the message contained in the relationship between personalcontact with subordinates and intergroup attitudes is less benignthan is suggested by the contact theory.     

DO OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS MEASURE "SALIENT" ISSUES?

Closed-ended questions dominate most interview schedules. Yetthe almost exclusive use of this form did not arise becauseopen-ended questions, its major competitor, proved to be weakindicators of public opinion. Instead, responses from open-endedquestions proved more difficult and expensive to code and analyzethan those from closed-ended questions. Although such practicalconcerns are important, the real task of survey researchersis to measure public opinion accurately. Using an experimentaldesign, this article tests whether open-ended questions measurethe important concerns of respondents—one of the long-claimedadvantages of this format. The results, on balance, show thatopen-ended comments reflect such concerns, suggesting that pollstersmay want to include more of these questions in their surveysof public opinion.