Donald Trump’s political rise has been closely tied to the grievances of White Americans who feel left behind by societal changes. A 2021 study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin provides insight into one source of this discontent: the perception that workplace diversity initiatives disadvantage White employees. Through seven experiments, researchers found that the presence of diversity programs led White participants to feel that their racial group was less valued, increasing their perception of anti-White bias. These findings shed light on why Trump’s rhetoric against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies resonates with his supporters.
The researchers conducted the study in 2021 in response to a growing cultural and political movement in the United States in which many White Americans increasingly perceived their racial group as being disadvantaged. Despite data consistently showing that White Americans remained objectively advantaged across economic, educational, and employment metrics, surveys and legal cases were reflecting a rising belief that diversity policies were unfair to Whites.
The timing of the study was significant because, in the years leading up to 2021, debates over race and equity had intensified. The Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, following the killing of George Floyd, led many corporations and institutions to strengthen their diversity initiatives. At the same time, conservative commentators and political figures—including Trump—argued that these efforts unfairly prioritized minorities at the expense of Whites. The researchers sought to examine whether diversity initiatives could, in some cases, unintentionally reinforce a sense of racial grievance among White Americans, even in situations where no actual disadvantage existed.
Now, in 2025, the study’s findings have taken on renewed importance as Donald Trump, having returned to the presidency, has begun systematically dismantling DEI programs through executive orders. His administration is aggressively targeting federal and private-sector diversity policies, framing them as illegal forms of racial preference.
To test this hypothesis, the researchers conducted seven experiments with over 3,000 self-identified White participants. In each experiment, participants were presented with a fictional organization and were randomly assigned to conditions in which the organization either had or did not have diversity initiatives. These initiatives included statements about valuing diversity, training programs focused on fostering minority success, and awards recognizing diversity efforts. Participants then read an employee testimonial about a promotion decision in which a White employee lost out to a Black colleague. The researchers measured participants’ perceptions of respect and value for White employees compared to minority employees, as well as their perceptions of anti-White bias in the organization.
The results consistently showed that the presence of diversity initiatives led White participants to perceive that their group was less respected and valued than racial minorities. This effect persisted even when the researchers provided evidence that White employees were objectively advantaged in the organization or when the Black candidate was clearly more qualified for the promotion.
In one experiment, participants were shown company data demonstrating that Whites and minorities were promoted at equal rates, or that Whites were promoted more frequently than minorities. Despite this information, the presence of diversity initiatives still increased perceptions of anti-White bias. In another experiment, participants were told that promotion opportunities were abundant rather than scarce, a condition that should have reduced concerns about competition between racial groups. However, the abundance of opportunities did not mitigate the effect of diversity initiatives on perceptions of anti-White bias.
Additional analyses explored whether individual differences—such as support for racial hierarchy or strong identification with Whiteness—moderated these effects. The researchers found little evidence that personal beliefs about race or social status significantly changed the way participants responded to diversity initiatives. This suggests that even White individuals who do not strongly identify with their racial group or endorse hierarchical views of society still perceived diversity initiatives as signaling lower respect for White employees.
One explanation for these findings is that diversity initiatives may create an impression that organizations prioritize minority groups, leading White employees to feel that their own status is being diminished. The researchers argue that this reaction is rooted in a psychological framework called the “group-value model” of procedural justice, which suggests that individuals gauge their social standing by how much they believe their group is respected and valued within an institution. When organizations emphasize diversity, White employees may interpret this as a sign that their group is being overlooked or de-emphasized, even if there is no tangible evidence of disadvantage.
The study has implications for how organizations implement diversity programs. While diversity initiatives are designed to create more inclusive workplaces, these findings suggest that they may also trigger unintended concerns among White employees. This could lead to resistance against such initiatives and contribute to broader societal debates about race and equity. The researchers suggest that organizations might need to address these perceptions by emphasizing that diversity initiatives benefit all employees or by framing them in ways that do not implicitly suggest a loss of status for White employees.
However, the study has some limitations. The experiments were conducted in controlled settings with fictional organizations, so the findings may not fully capture how these dynamics play out in real workplaces. Additionally, while the study examined perceptions of bias, it did not measure actual workplace behavior, such as hiring and promotion decisions. Future research could explore how these perceptions influence workplace interactions, policy support, and broader attitudes toward racial equity efforts.
“Discrimination perceptions represent a powerful lens through which people perceive and act upon the social world,” the researchers concluded. “Discrimination perceptions catalyze action, and they are at the heart of significant societal events including lawsuits, political movements, and the state of contemporary race relations. To realize the promise of diversity initiatives, organizations would be wise to turn toward the burgeoning scholarship on diversity science, as this literature points to obstacles, including Whites’ perceptions of anti-White bias, that have the potential to hamper well-intended approaches to increasing diversity and creating a more equitable workforce. Efforts to address Whites’ perceptions of victimhood might help organizations deliver on their efforts to create diverse and inclusive workplace environments.”
The study, “Diversity Initiatives and White Americans’ Perceptions of Racial Victimhood,” was authored by Cheryl R. Kaiser, Tessa L. Dover, Payton Small, Gary Xia, Laura M. Brady, and Brenda Major.
