Racial Composition, White Racial Attitudes, and Black Representation: Testing the Racial Threat Hypothesis in the United States Senate

We make the case for why the racial threat hypothesis should characterize the relationship between states' racial composition, whites' racial attitudes, and black representation in the United States Senate. Consistent with this claim, we find that senators from states with larger percentag...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political behavior 2012-09, Vol.34 (3), p.391-410
Main Authors: Avery, James M., Fine, Jeffrey A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African American studies
African Americans
Attitudes
Conservatism
Liberalism
Original Paper
Political attitudes
Political behavior
Political partisanship
Political representation
Political Science
Political Science and International Relations
Political Science and International Studies
Race relations
Senators
Sociology
Unemployment rates
Voting
Voting rights
White people
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Summary:We make the case for why the racial threat hypothesis should characterize the relationship between states' racial composition, whites' racial attitudes, and black representation in the United States Senate. Consistent with this claim, we find that senators from states with larger percentages of African-Americans among the electorate and more racially conservative preferences among whites provide worse representation of black interests in the Senate than their counterparts. We also apply theories of congressional cross-pressures in considering how senator partisanship and region moderate the effect of white racial attitudes on black representation. Finally, consistent with the racial threat hypothesis, we show that the negative effect of white racial attitudes on the quality of black representation is stronger when state unemployment rates are higher.
ISSN:0190-9320
1573-6687
DOI:10.1007/s11109-011-9173-x