UCLA

While considerable research has examined the structure (e.g., reliability), origins (e.g., predictors) and consequences (e.g., policy attitudes) of anti-Black symbolic racism among White American respondents, far less research has probed this construct among non-White respondents or non-Black target groups. The current dissertation examined the structure, origins and consequences of symbolic racism as it applied to a broader ethnic context, specifically, as it was expressed among White respondents towards Latino targets (e.g., anti-Latino symbolic racism; Study 1) and as it was expressed among Latino respondents towards Black targets (Study 2). I used multiple years of the Los Angeles County Social Survey, employing reliability analysis, correlational analysis and regression analysis to probe my questions of interest. I found that Whites’ anti-Latino symbolic racism showed roughly comparable structure, origins and consequences as their anti-Black symbolic racism. In contrast, Latinos’ symbolic racism did not show comparable structure, origins, or consequences, relative to White respondents who had been prompted with the same anti-Black symbolic racism questions. Implications regarding the use of symbolic racism as a measure of bias towards non-Black targets and among non-White respondent populations are discussed.