News Release

Many children attribute white male monopoly on White House to discrimination

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Wiley

Austin, TX – October 8, 2008 – A new study in the journal Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy explored elementary-school-age children's views about the role of race and gender in the U.S. presidency, Results indicated that most children are aware that women and people of color have been excluded from the presidency. Further, many children attributed the lack of female, African American, and Latino presidents to gender and racial discrimination.

In the year prior to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's bids to become the Democratic nominee, researchers interviewed children between five and ten years of age from various ethnic and racial backgrounds to assess their knowledge of and attributions for the lack of female, African American, and Latino presidents.

The study found that most children endorsed the belief that the presidency should be filled by people of both genders and diverse races and ethnicities. At the same time, most children reported that women and people of color have been excluded from the role

Surprisingly, when asked about potential legal barriers, one in four children stated that it was currently against the law for women, African Americans, or Latinos to be President. Many children also blamed those who have been excluded, arguing that they lack the necessary attributes to hold the position, including the fact women aren't as smart as men.

Girls who attributed the lack of female presidents to discrimination were more likely to report that they could not really become president, even if they were interested in doing so. In contrast, among African American children, attributions to discrimination were associated with an increased interest in becoming president, perhaps, Bigler said, as a result of the long and well-known history of African-Americans' struggle to achieve equality in the United States,"

"Our research suggests that the U.S. presidency is a high-profile instance of gender and racial exclusion that is well known by young children and may shape their expectations concerning gender and race relations and discrimination," the authors note. "If Obama loses his bid for the presidency, there may be little change in children's attitudes, but it could fuel their perception that American voters are racially prejudiced," Bigler said. "In contrast, if Obama wins children may believe that exclusionary laws and racial prejudice no longer shape the outcomes of the presidential elections."

###

This study is published in the October 2008 issue of Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy. Media wishing to receive a PDF of this article may contact journalnews@bos.blackwellpublishing.net.

Rebecca Bigler is affiliated with The University of Texas at Austin and can be reached for questions at bigler@psy.utexas.edu.

Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (ASAP) is an electronic journal of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI). It is published in print once a year, in December. The journal is an outlet for timely and innovative psychological and related social science scholarship with implications for social action and policy. ASAP provides a forum for publishing new work as well as discussion on alternative approaches to a variety of important and current social problems. Encouraging timely publication of well-written, peer-reviewed work, ASAP facilitates communication between social science researchers and practitioners and policy makers, as well as with the public as a whole.

Wiley-Blackwell was formed in February 2007 as a result of the acquisition of Blackwell Publishing Ltd. by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and its merger with Wiley's Scientific, Technical, and Medical business. Together, the companies have created a global publishing business with deep strength in every major academic and professional field. Wiley-Blackwell publishes approximately 1,400 scholarly peer-reviewed journals and an extensive collection of books with global appeal. For more information on Wiley-Blackwell, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com or http://interscience.wiley.com.


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.