Narrowing Racial Differences in Trust: How Discrimination Shapes Trust in a Racialized Society
Open Access
- 17 July 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Social Problems
- Vol. 69 (4), 1109-1136
- https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spab011
Abstract
In the United States, survey research and qualitative studies consistently find that people of color—and Blacks in particular—report substantially lower levels of trust than do whites. These racial differences in trust pervade a range of social contexts, from interpersonal relationships with friends, family, and neighbors to interactions with the health care and criminal justice systems. Scholars often attribute racial differences in trust to historical and contemporary forms of discrimination, yet few studies have assessed the relationship among race, discrimination, and trust in the context of the United States. Using the Chicago Community Adult Health Study, I examine how the experience of discrimination relates to generalized trust, trust in neighbors, and trust in community police. Findings reveal that personal experience with discrimination contributes modestly to racial differences in trust. In fact, the negative association between discrimination and generalized trust appears strongest for whites. These findings suggest that understanding distrust requires a richer conceptual framework that moves beyond personal experience with discrimination. I argue that the theory of systemic racism provides a framework for understanding distrust as a consequence of countervailing efforts to uphold and contest the racial hierarchy.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (DGE #1256260)
- The Chicago Community Adult Health Study
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD050467)
- National Science Foundation
This publication has 58 references indexed in Scilit:
- Racism and Health IAmerican Behavioral Scientist, 2013
- Total, Direct, and Indirect Effects in Logit and Probit ModelsSociological Methods & Research, 2013
- Three forms of trust and their associationEuropean Political Science Review, 2011
- Discrimination and racial disparities in health: evidence and needed researchJournal of Behavioral Medicine, 2008
- Are Blacks Really Less Trusting than Whites? Revisiting the Race and Trust QuestionSocial Forces, 2007
- Understanding social disparities in hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control: The role of neighborhood contextSocial Science & Medicine (1982), 2007
- Experiences of discrimination: Validity and reliability of a self-report measure for population health research on racism and healthSocial Science & Medicine (1982), 2005
- Racially Biased Policing: Determinants of Citizen PerceptionsSocial Forces, 2005
- Who trusts others?Journal of Public Economics, 2002
- Does Discrimination Terminology Create Response Bias in Questionnaire Studies of Discrimination?Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2001