A study published in the journal Political Behavior offers a detailed look at how racist and sexist attitudes have been connected in the United States over the past two decades. Using data from five presidential election years between 2004 and 2020, the researchers found that racial resentment among white Americans consistently predicted attitudes related to gender roles, sexism, and beliefs about gender discrimination. These findings suggest that racism and sexism are not isolated opinions but rather part of a broader ideological framework that supports existing social hierarchies.
The researchers also set out to test two competing theories that offer different explanations for why racist and sexist attitudes might be linked. The first, known as the racial priming hypothesis, suggests that the connection between views on race and gender may have emerged or strengthened in response to specific political events.
For example, the election of Barack Obama as the first Black president or Hillary Clinton’s historic candidacy as a woman may have heightened public attention to identity issues. In this view, political elites—through speeches, media appearances, or campaign messaging—can “prime” voters to think about race and gender in new ways, leading people’s attitudes about one to influence their views on the other.
The second theory, known as the system justification hypothesis, takes a different approach. It argues that racist and sexist beliefs are both rooted in a deeper psychological motivation to defend the existing social order. According to this perspective, people who are invested in preserving traditional hierarchies—such as those that prioritize white people or men—are more likely to hold attitudes that rationalize inequality. In this view, racism and sexism are not separate or newly connected attitudes, but rather different expressions of the same underlying worldview that supports the status quo and resists social change.
To investigate, the researchers analyzed data from five waves of the American National Election Studies (ANES), conducted during the U.S. presidential elections in 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020. The analysis was limited to non-Hispanic white respondents due to both theoretical and practical considerations. First, the concept of racial resentment has been most extensively validated among white populations. Second, the sample sizes of non-white respondents were too small in several of the survey years to allow for reliable analysis.
The study focused on three distinct types of gender-related attitudes traditional gender roles, modern sexism, and perceptions of gender discrimination. Each of these constructs was measured using specific questions from the ANES surveys. For instance, traditional gender roles were assessed using items like:
- “It is much better for everyone involved if the man is the achiever outside the home and the woman takes care of the home and family.”
- “A working mother can establish just as warm and secure a relationship with her children as a mother who does not work.”
Modern sexism was assessed through questions such as:
- “When women demand equality these days, they are actually seeking special favors.”
- “When women complain about discrimination, how often do they cause more problems than they solve?”
Beliefs about gender discrimination were measured with items like:
- “How serious a problem is discrimination against women in the United States?”
- “Women often miss out on good jobs because of discrimination.”
The key independent variable was racial resentment, measured using a standard four-item scale that has been part of the ANES since the late 1980s. This scale captures beliefs that racial inequality is due to individual failings rather than structural disadvantages. Examples of the questions include:
- “Irish, Italians, Jewish, and many other minorities overcame prejudice and worked their way up. Blacks should do the same without any special favors.”
- “It’s really a matter of some people not trying hard enough; if Blacks would only try harder, they could be just as well off as Whites.”
- “Generations of slavery and discrimination have created conditions that make it difficult for Blacks to work their way out of the lower class.” (reverse scored)
These items were coded such that higher scores reflect more racial resentment—that is, a greater tendency to blame Black Americans for their own social position and to reject structural explanations for racial inequality.
Across all five election years, the study found that white Americans who scored higher in racial resentment were more likely to support traditional gender roles, endorse sexist beliefs, and have lower perceptions of the existence of gender discrimination.
This pattern held even after adjusting for political affiliation, ideology, and other demographic controls. The strength of the relationship between racial resentment and these gendered attitudes did vary somewhat by year. For example, the association between racial resentment and beliefs about gender discrimination grew stronger over time, while its link to traditional family values slightly weakened. However, the link between racial resentment and modern sexism remained relatively stable throughout.
These findings support the system justification hypothesis: the idea that racism and sexism are rooted in a broader belief system that defends and legitimizes the existing social order, particularly the dominance of white men. Notably, this connection between racist and sexist attitudes was already present in 2004, before the political prominence of figures like Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, suggesting it is not merely a product of recent political events.
“Yet, we do not discount the role of elites in contributing to these connections, as some linkages vary over time, tracking elite behavior,” the researchers wrote. “Our results show that rather than conceptualizing Obama or Trump as the motivating factor linking racism and sexism, it may be more helpful to think about Trump as a figure who capitalized, intentionally or not, on existing but previously untapped intersections between sexist and racist views.”
While the study offers strong evidence for a longstanding connection between racism and sexism among white Americans, there are so”me limitations. First, the analysis focused only on white respondents due to the structure of the racial resentment measure and limitations in sample size for non-white participants. Future research could explore how these patterns manifest in other racial and ethnic groups, using newer measures of racial attitudes that may be more appropriate for diverse samples.
Importantly, although the findings suggest a shared ideological base for racism and sexism, the study cannot definitively establish cause and effect. It remains unclear whether these beliefs arise from early socialization, political messaging, personal experiences, or some combination of factors.
Still, the study highlights the importance of looking at racism and sexism not as isolated issues, but as interconnected beliefs that often travel together. The researchers suggest that future work should adopt more intersectional approaches, examining how gendered and racial beliefs interact and reinforce each other over time.
The study, “White Racial Resentment and Gender Attitudes: An Enduring Connection or an Artifact of the 2016 Election?,” was authored by Michael G. Strawbridge, Heather Silber Mohamed, and Jennifer Lucas.
