White Racial Solidarity and Opposition to American Democracy

DOI10.1177/00027162211069730
Published date01 January 2022
Date01 January 2022
Subject MatterWhen Mass Politics Fails to Ensure Democracy
ANNALS, AAPSS, 699, January 2022 79
DOI: 10.1177/00027162211069730
White Racial
Solidarity and
Opposition to
American
Democracy
By
ASHLEY JARDINA
and
ROBERT MICKEY
1069730ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYWHITE RACIAL SOLIDARITY AND OPPOSITION TO DEMOCRACY
research-article2021
Political observers have expressed concern about the
failure of some Americans to uphold democratic princi-
ples. We argue that support for antidemocratic authori-
tarian governance is associated with some whites’
psychological attachment to their racial group and a
desire to maintain their group’s power and status in the
face of multiracial democracy. Drawing on historical
work, we posit that whites’ efforts to restrict democracy
are deeply rooted in America’s past; and we present
empirical analysis demonstrating that today, whites
with higher levels of racial solidarity are notably more
supportive of authoritarian leadership than whites who
do not possess a racial group consciousness.
Keywords: race; white identity; group consciousness;
democratic attitudes; authoritarianism
In recent decades, American politicians have
mounted significant challenges to the coun-
try’s democratic practices (Levitsky and Ziblatt
2018). Forces on the Right delegitimized
Barack Obama’s presidency in the eyes of many
Americans through their sponsorship of the
“birther” conspiracy theory (Jardina and
Traugott 2019). For more than 15 years,
Republican-controlled state legislatures have
abused gerrymandering and placed new restric-
tions on voting and on political offices held by
Democrats (Mickey, this volume). The erosion
of democratic institutions and norms acceler-
ated during Donald Trump’s presidency. Trump
undermined faith in elections, encouraged
political violence, vilified the mainstream
media, positioned himself as a law-and-order
strongman challenging immigrants and sup-
pressing protests, and refused to denounce
Ashley Jardina is an assistant professor of political
science at Duke University and the author of White
Identity Politics (Cambridge University Press 2019).
Robert Mickey is an associate professor of political sci-
ence at the University of Michigan.
Correspondence: ajardina@gmail.com

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