Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Fate of Obamacare: Racial Resentment, Ethnocentrism and Attitudes about Healthcare Reform

  • Published:
Race and Social Problems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Health care has been a contentious issue in American politics for decades, and scholars are beginning to understand the reasons behind public support for, and opposition to, healthcare reform. Using national survey data, we measure the impact of various racial attitudes, including Racial Resentment and Ethnocentrism, on white support for healthcare reform. We measure participants’ attitudes across a range of important dimensions of healthcare reform and examine a randomized experiment with a control group that frames legislation as “recent” healthcare reform and a treatment condition that frames legislation as “President Obama’s” healthcare reform. The findings demonstrate that racial attitudes and Ethnocentrism continue to play a role in both support and opposition to healthcare reform.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Knowles et al. (2010) use the same question and index. Unfortunately, they do not report descriptive statistics but do report a similar alpha of .91.

  2. In addition, we estimated an exploratory factor analysis in order to see whether the seven specific items fell into more than one dimension. The results indicated that the items fall into a single dimension of support and opposition to healthcare reform. The first dimension explained over 70 % of the variation and subsequent dimensions explained ten percent or less. The eigenvalue of the first dimension was approximately 5.6, while the eigenvalues of remaining dimensions were all less than one. As shown in the bivariate correlations in Table 1, the items are all highly correlated and the index has an alpha level of .94.

References

  • Byrd, D., Saporta, C., & Martinez, R. M. (2011). The role of race in the health care debate. The Greenlining Institute. http://greenlining.org/resources/pdfs/HealthCareReportFINAL28.2.11.pdf. Accessed 24 Oct 2011.

  • Carmines, E. G., & Stimson, J. A. (1989). Issue evolution: Race and the transformation of American politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpini, M. X. D., & Keeter, S. (1993). Measuring political knowledge: Putting first things first. American Journal of Political Science, 37, 1179–1206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devos, T., Ma, D. S., & Gaffud, T. (2008). Is Barack Obama American enough to be the next president? The role of ethnicity and national identity in American politics. Technical Report. San Diego State University. http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~tdevos/thd/Devos_spsp2008.pdf. Accessed 24 Oct 2011.

  • Gelman, A., Lee, D., & Ghitza, Y. (2010). Public opinion and health care reform. The Forum. Vol. 8, no. 1.

  • Gilliam, F. D., & Iyengar, S. (2000). Prime suspects: The influence of local television news on the viewing public. American Journal of Political Science, 44, 560–573.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, M., & Hillygus, D. S. (2011). The dynamics of health care opinion, 2008–2010: Partisanship, self-interest, and racial resentment. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 36(6), 945–960.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henry, P. J., & Sears, D. O. (2002). The symbolic racism 2000 scale. Political Psychology, 23(3), 253–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurwitz, J., & Peffley, M. (2005). Playing the race card in the post-Willie Horton era: The impact of racialized code words on support for punitive crime policy. Public Opinion Quarterly, 69, 99–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchings, V. L., & Valentino, N. A. (2004). The politics of race: Understanding the importance of interests and values in the racial attitudes literature. Annual Review of Political Science, 7, 383–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, G. C. (2007). A divider, not a uniter. New York: Pearson Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, C. R., Drury, B. J., Spalding, K. E., Cheryan, S., & O’Brien, L. T. (2009). The ironic consequences of Obama’s election: Decreased support for social justice. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 45, 556–559.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kam, C. D., & Kinder, D. R. (2012). Ethnocentrism as a short-term force in the 2008 American Presidential Election. American Journal of Political Science, 56, 326–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kay, W., & Mayer, J. (2010). Immigration in the 2008 Virginia presidential election: A cultural issue remains persistent despite and economic crisis. The Social Science Journal, 47, 646–658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kinder, D. R., & Kam, C. D. (2009). Us against them: Ethnocentric foundations of American opinion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kinder, D. R., & Sears, D. O. (1981). Prejudice and politics: Symbolic racism versus racial threats to the good life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40(3), 414–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knowles, E., Lowery, B., & Schaumberg, R. (2010). Racial prejudice predicts opposition to Obama and his health care reform plan. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 420–423.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kriner, D., & Reeves, A. (2011). Responsive partisanship: Public support for the Clinton and Obama health care plans. Unpublished. http://people.bu.edu/areeves/papers/healthcare.pdf. Accessed 24 Oct 2011.

  • Krysan, M. (2000). Prejudice, politics, and public opinion: Understanding the sources of racial policy attitudes. Annual Review of Sociology, 26(1), 135–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Layman, G. C., & Carsey, T. M. (2002). Party polarization and ‘conflict extension’ in the American electorate. American Journal of Political Science, 46, 786–802.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McConahay, J. B., & Hough, J. C, Jr. (1976). Symbolic Racism. Journal of Social Issues, 32, 23–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orey, Byron D’ Andra, & Park, Hyung. (2012). Nature, nurture, and ethnocentrism in the Minnesota twin study. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 15, 71–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pasek, J., Tahk, A., Lelkes, Y., Krosnick, J. A., Payne, B. K., Akhtar, O., et al. (2009). Determinants of turnout and candidate choice in the 2008 presidential election: Illuminating the impact of racial prejudice and other considerations. Public Opinion Quarterly, 73, 943–994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peffley, M., & Hurwitz, J. (2007). Persuasion and resistance: Race and the death penalty in America. American Journal of Political Science, 51, 996–1012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peffley, M., Shields, T., & Williams, B. (1996). The intersection of race and crime in television news stories: An experimental study. Political Communication, 13, 309–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pew Research Center Publications. (2010). Growing number of Americans say Obama is a muslim: Religion, politics, and the president (August 19). http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1701/poll-obama-muslim-christian-church-out-of-politics-political-leaders-religious. Accessed 27 Sept 2012.

  • Redlawsk, D. P., Tolbert, C. J., & Franco, W. (2010). Voters, emotions and race in 2008: Obama as the first black president. Political Research Quarterly, 63, 875–889.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sears, D. O., & Henry, P. J. (2003). The origins of symbolic racism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(2), 259–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sears, D. O., & Henry, P. J. (2005). Over thirty years later: A contemporary look at symbolic racism and its critics. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 37, 95–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sears, D. O., Henry, P. J., & Kosterman, R. (2000). Egalitarian values and contemporary racial politics. In D. O. Sears, J. Sidanius, & L. Bobo (Eds.), Racialized politics: The debate about racism in America (pp. 75–117). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sears, D. O., van Laar, C., Carillo, M., & Kosterman, R. (1997). Is it really racism? The origins of white Americans’ opposition to race-targeted policies. Public Opinion Quarterly, 61(1), 16–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Segura, G., & Valenzuela, A. (2010). Hope, tropes and dopes: Hispanic and white animus in the 2008 election. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 40(3), 497–514.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sniderman, P. M., Piazza, T., Tetlock, P. E., & Kendrick, A. (1991). The new racism. American Journal of Political Science, 35(2), 423–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sumner, W. G. [1906] 2002. Folkways: A study of mores, manners, customs, and morals. Mineola: Dover Publications.

  • Tarman, C., & Sears, D. O. (2005). The conceptualization and measurement of symbolic racism. The Journal of Politics., 67, 731–761.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tesler, M. (2012). The spillover of racialization into health care: How president Obama polarized public opinion by race and racial attitudes. American Journal of Political Science, 56(3), 690–704.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tesler, M., & Sears, D. O. (2010). Obama’s race. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Travis, S. (2010). “CNN Poll: Quarter Doubt Obama Was Born in U.S.” 4 August http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/04/cnn-poll-quarter-doubt-president-was-born-in-u-s/. Accessed 15 May 2011).

  • Valentino, N. A., & Sears, D. O. (2005). Old times there are not forgotten: Race and partisan realignment in the contemporary south. American Journal of Political Science, 49(3), 672–688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winkler, J. (2009). “Word from Winkler—Uncivil Discourse.” 19 August. http://www.umcgbcs.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=frLJK2PKLqF&b=5381087&ct=7302773. Accessed 20 Oct 2011.

  • Winter, N. J. G. (2008). Dangerous frames: How ideas about race and gender shape public opinion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Arkansas, Old Main 428, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Angie Maxwell

  2. Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, University of Arkansas, Old Main 526, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Todd Shields

Authors
  1. Angie Maxwell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Todd Shields
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Angie Maxwell.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Maxwell, A., Shields, T. The Fate of Obamacare: Racial Resentment, Ethnocentrism and Attitudes about Healthcare Reform. Race Soc Probl 6, 293–304 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-014-9130-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-014-9130-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation