White Racial Solidarity and Opposition to American Democracy

• Author: Robert Mickey,Ashley Jardina
• DOI: 10.1177/00027162211069730
• Published date: 01 January 2022
• Date: 01 January 2022
• Subject Matter: When 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