White Americans Racial Attitudes Revisited: The Role of Cognitive Engagement

Abstract

This article introduces the studies on racial attitudes of white Americans and critically reviews them. Drawing on information processing perspective, I point out that literature on white racial attitudes is barely successful in accounting for the reasons why white citizens who are committed to the principle of racial equality oppose race-targeted public policies. I argue that racial policy preferences are driven not only by political and racial predispositions, but also by the different levels of cognitive engagement in issues: individuals use different amount of relevant information in forming policy preferences, which in turn leads individuals to arrive at different understandings of racial matters.