Old-fashioned racism (OFR) is a type of racism that asserts that minorities are
biologically inferior to white people. OFR is also associated with the belief that minorities
should be segregated from white society, and that minorities do not deserve policies to help mitigate the barriers of discrimination.
Definition
People who exhibit old-fashioned racism endorse derogatory statements about the innate capabilities and intellect of minorities. Proponents are also likely to support
racial segregation of schools and housing.[1] OFR has mostly been applied to white perceptions of black people in the US, though there is evidence of old-fashioned racism towards other minority groups such as Muslims.[2] OFR is also known as traditional racism,
Jim Crow racism, and blatant racism.[3]
History
Though old-fashioned racism was highly prevalent in the US from approximately 1940–1990, OFR generally fell out of favor and was replaced by
laissez-faire racism or
symbolic racism.[4][5] These forms of racism de-emphasize biological inferiority of minorities. Instead, they are characterized by the belief that minorities do not uphold traditional American values, particularly the
Protestant work ethic.[1] The scholar Michael Tesler argues that the election of the first black president
Barack Obama in 2008 caused a resurgence of old-fashioned racism in US society. Tesler found that both overt, old-fashioned racism and racial resentment influenced how people perceived Obama.[6][7][8]
References
^
abVirtanen, Simo V.; Huddy, Leonie (1998). "Old-Fashioned Racism and New Forms of Racial Prejudice". The Journal of Politics. 60 (2): 311–332.
doi:
10.2307/2647911.
JSTOR2647911.
S2CID144960602.
^Lajevardi, Nazita; Oskooii, Kassra A. R. (2018). "Old-Fashioned Racism, Contemporary Islamophobia, and the Isolation of Muslim Americans in the Age of Trump". The Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. 3: 112–152.
doi:
10.1017/rep.2017.37.
^Tesler, Michael (2013). "The Return of Old-Fashioned Racism to White Americans' Partisan Preferences in the Early Obama Era". The Journal of Politics. 75: 110–123.
doi:
10.1017/s0022381612000904.
S2CID32144829.
^Knuckey, Jonathan; Kim, Myunghee (2015). "Racial Resentment, Old-Fashioned Racism, and the Vote Choice of Southern and Nonsouthern Whites in the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election". Social Science Quarterly. 96 (4): 905–922.
doi:
10.1111/ssqu.12184.