Majority No More? The Influence of Neighborhood Racial Diversity and Salient National Population Changes on Whites’ Perceptions of Racial Discrimination

Abstract

This article examines whether the size of racial minority populations is associated with whites’ perceptions that different racial groups face discrimination. Correlational studies reveal that both the perceived size (studies 1 and 2) and actual size (study 2) of the racial minority population in their local environment predicts the extent to which whites report that they personally, and that whites as a group, face racial discrimination. Two experiments (studies 3 and 4) reveal that reading about growth in the racial minority share of the national population (versus control information) similarly increases whites’ concerns about antiwhite discrimination. Overall, these findings suggest that increasing racial diversity, real or perceived, local or national, can elicit identity-relevant concerns among white Americans, including perceived vulnerability to racial discrimination.