Perceived causes of Black–White racial economic inequality and racialized policy attitudes: Implications for policy support
2026-02-11
Attributing racial disparities to factors related to individuals (individual causes) or to societal factors (structural causes) is linked to attitudes toward racial equity policies. Membership in a dominant or subordinated racial group might shape these associations. Using the case of Black and White Americans' attributions for Black–White economic inequality, we investigated the association between distinct kinds of individual (i.e., innate factors, lack of motivation) and structural (i.e., discrimination, lack of educational opportunity) attributions and attitudes toward racialized policies. We used cross‐sectional samples of non‐Hispanic Black and White Americans from the 2016 ( N = 2361) and 2018 ( N = 1875) General Social Survey to examine these associations. Results show that Black Americans were more likely to make attributions to discrimination and individual factors than White Americans. Generally, structural attributions were associated with stronger support for policies aimed at addressing racial inequality, whereas individual attributions showed opposite associations. Effects varied by the kind of attribution and policy. Race moderated the effects of attribution on attitudes toward government spending and racist expression policies, but not affirmative action. These studies contribute to understanding how group position and attributions of racial inequality relate to policy preferences, which have implications for developing initiatives to improve policy support.