Valentino Lauren, Warren Evangeline
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Ohio State University.
AJS. 2025 Jan;130(4):846-892. doi: 10.1086/733194.
This sequential mixed-methods study examines how Americans ascribe meanings to the concepts , , and . We first conduct interviews ( = 40) using a symbolic boundaries elicitation approach, gathering examples of scenarios that do and do not "count" as racism, sexism, and classism. We then use these examples as vignettes in a nationally representative survey experiment ( = 2,000). Results reveal striking evidence for cultural heterogeneity in how Americans understand and define racism, sexism, and classism. We find that a person's definition of these concepts depends on their emphasis on intentionality, unequal treatment/outcomes, and power (a)symmetry. We also find that political partisanship, gender, age, and income shape the importance of these three components in their definitions. Finally, we show that Americans' definitions of racism, sexism, and classism strongly predict their discrimination-related public opinion and policy preferences, such as support for affirmative action and antidiscrimination laws, even after accounting for demographic controls, including political views.
这项序贯混合方法研究考察了美国人如何赋予“种族主义”“性别歧视”和“阶级歧视”这些概念以意义。我们首先采用符号边界启发式方法进行访谈（n = 40），收集被视为和不被视为种族主义、性别歧视和阶级歧视的情景示例。然后，我们将这些示例作为 vignettes 用于一项具有全国代表性的调查实验（n = 2000）。结果揭示了美国人在理解和界定种族主义、性别歧视和阶级歧视方式上存在文化异质性的显著证据。我们发现，一个人对这些概念的定义取决于他们对意图性、不平等对待/结果以及权力（非）对称性的强调。我们还发现，政治党派性、性别、年龄和收入塑造了这三个组成部分在其定义中的重要性。最后，我们表明，即使在考虑了包括政治观点在内的人口统计学控制因素之后，美国人对种族主义、性别歧视和阶级歧视的定义仍能有力地预测他们与歧视相关的公众舆论和政策偏好，比如对平权行动和反歧视法律的支持。
