“Black Rage” or Conscious Dream?: A Demographic Profile Of African Americans' Prejudice By David C. Wilson

This analysis is informative primarily in two important ways. First, it is a rare segmentation study of blacks' prejudice that actually incorporates both a measure of prejudice and utilizes a nationally representative sample of blacks. The three years of data allow for a rigorous test of the segments' attitudes, and because the sample represents a cross-section of African Americans, the results have stronger external validity than previous studies. Second, the demographic categories found to be most prejudiced follow a pattern that identify middle- and upper-class blacks as the most prejudiced segments in black America. Generally, those socioeconomic categories that were most prejudiced also reported higher levels of perceived negative context. This highlights the utility of studying prejudice from the group position perspective, and supports past research about black middle-class cynicism.

Future research can take note that those blacks in higher income and education categories are most likely to be prejudiced. The next question to ask may be, why is the same not true for whites? Recent studies by researchers such as Sniderman and Piazza laud educated whites for their ability to see through the inefficiency of prejudice, racism, and intolerance, and present more egalitarian attitudes. This does not appear to be true for blacks.

If we combine the findings of the Sniderman and Piazza study with those presented here, we see a pattern that shows that blacks are able strategically to separate perceptions of hard work and financial optimism from the racially negative environment in which they live. According to Sniderman and Piazza, more-educated and higher-income blacks are less anomic and more optimistic about their financial future. Yet, these findings show they also perceive a more negative context and a greater racial threat, and are more prejudiced towards whites.

Is it the case that African Americans actually go through a calculus as to the importance of race? I believe so. I believe that blacks have actually accepted, but not discounted, that race continues to be and will always be a problem, yet they realize it is not a complete barrier to political, social, and economic achievement. In a sentence, blacks are cautious, and conscious, dreamers; they know that the dream is tenuous and can easily turn into a nightmare if prejudice is still a part of their daily lives.