Devaluing Black space : Black locations as targets of housing and environmental discrimination
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Do spaces have races? Why might space-race associations matter? Across four studies, participants attached racial meaning to a range of locations, as well as negatively stereotyped and reported feeling less connected to Black spaces in particular. Negative stereotyping and lack of connection to Black space explained why these spaces experienced both housing and environmental discrimination. Studies 1 and 2 participants generated raced spaces and then rated the extent to which they thought of these locations (i.e. inner cities, suburbs) as White or Black. The more Black spaces were, the less White they were, showing participants made clear distinctions between these two types of spaces. Further, the Black spaces were rated more negatively than the White spaces, showing participants devalued Black space. Study 3 expanded this finding by manipulating the race of one location—a house for sale by a Black or White family. Participants gave the Black house, relative to the White, a lower evaluation (i.e. they thought it was worth less and were less eager to move there). The Black house received this lower evaluation because participants negatively stereotyped it. They imagined the neighborhood surrounding it to be lower quality than the neighborhood they imagined around the White house (i.e. less safe, lower quality schools and municipal services). Additionally, participants reported feeling less connected to the neighborhood around the Black house, which also helped to explain its lower evaluation. Study 4 participants again discriminated against Black space—this time in the environmental domain. Participants read a proposal to place a potentially polluting chemical plant near a majority Black or White neighborhood. They reported less opposition to this plant when the nearby neighborhood was Black. This Black space received less environmental protection because participants were more likely to think it already housed other industrial facilities (industrial space stereotype) and again because they reported feeling less connected to it. These results are important not only because they expand theory on racial discrimination, stereotyping, and sense of place, but also because they provide an enhanced understanding of the causal role race plays in producing and maintaining disparities in access to high quality, healthy living spaces.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2010 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Bonam, Courtney Marie |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Psychology |
| Primary advisor | Eberhardt, Jennifer L. (Jennifer Lynn) |
| Thesis advisor | Eberhardt, Jennifer L. (Jennifer Lynn) |
| Thesis advisor | Markus, Hazel Rose |
| Thesis advisor | Ross, Lee |
| Advisor | Markus, Hazel Rose |
| Advisor | Ross, Lee |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Courtney Marie Bonam. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Psychology. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2010. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2010 by Courtney Marie Bonam
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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