Dimensions of Racial Ideology: A Study of Urban Black Attitudes

Six dimensions of racial ideology were analyzed based on interview data from 1934 blacks in a northern city and a southern city. Blacks who favor separatism tend to be more alienated, fearful of race genocide, race conscious, and supportive of racial violence than those who endorse interracial cooperation. An orientation of suspiciousness, distrust, and estrangement toward white society was particularly evident in the sentiments of blacks who reside in a northern city, are under age 30, and have low socioeconomic status. Moreover, younger persons and males are substantially more in favor of racial violence than older persons and females. The view that less privileged blacks are more conservative in their assessment of race relations and the view that the depressed ghetto experience restricts their knowledge about and responses to racial subjugation are not upheld in this study.