In the APSA Public Scholarship Program, graduate students in political science produce summaries of new research in the American Political Science Review. This piece, written by Leann Mclaren, covers the new research article by Hakeem Jefferson, Stanford University, “The Politics of Respectability and Black Americans’ Punitive Attitudes”.
Recently, conversations on police reform, criminal justice policy, and policies regarding “deviance” in general have caused great debate among scholars and activists alike. Positions range anywhere from decriminalizing marijuana, installing civilian oversight boards of police, to actively increasing support for punitive policies, even if they are known to further inequality and target Black Americans. While much has been written about white Americans’ attitudes toward this domain of social policies, some argue that diversity in these positions has not been adequately examined among those most affected by the policies themselves, Black Americans.
In a recent article in the APSR, Professor Hakeem Jefferson examines how identity-based concerns and the “politics of respectability” shape support among Black Americans for policies that police or punish members of their own racial group. Using surveys of Black Americans, he examines how an embrace of respectability relates to a range of social and psychological factors, and demonstrates that differences in Black Americans’ views toward respectability help explain differences in various policy attitudes.
As Jefferson notes, “the politics of respectability” was first coined by historian Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham to describe views among Black women in the Black Baptist Church. At its core, the politics of respectability emphasized a belief that racial inequality could be tackled through a change in individual behaviors. Advocates of respectability also believed that striving for good, moral behavior that aligned with middle-class values should be a goal in itself for Black Americans.
With these insights in mind, Jefferson sets out to examine key questions regarding respectability politics among Black Americans: What share of Black Americans embrace respectability politics? What are the demographic, social, and psychological correlates of respectability? And, importantly, to what extent does respectability politics correspond with Black Americans’ punitive attitudes?
To answer these questions, Jefferson develops a novel Respectability Politics Scale and surveys Black Americans across two surveys. Using the first survey of 500 Black Americans, Jefferson examines the distribution of respectability politics, assesses its demographic, social, and psychological correlates, and tests whether respectability, above and beyond existing constructs, helps to explain variation in Black Americans’ policy views. In a second study of 300 Black Americans, Jefferson tests whether respectability politics corresponds with Black Americans’ reactions to negatively stereotyped behavior in a set of real-world scenarios. For example, in one scenario, respondents are asked to imagine that they are at a restaurant where a table of other Black people are speaking loudly, using profane language, and complaining about their food.
“This work highlights the diversity and complexity of Black public opinion and develops a theoretical and empirical account of the relationship between respectability politics and Black Americans’ punitive attitudes.” In the first study, Jefferson finds that a large share of Black respondents embraces respectability politics. Black Americans who score higher on a standard measure of authoritarianism, those who report that religion is an important part of their lives, and those who report greater feelings of in-group directed shame and who endorse more negative racial stereotypes about the group are more likely to score high on the Respectability Politics Scale. And even after accounting for standard concepts like partisanship, ideology, and linked fate, Jefferson finds that the Respectability Politics Scale helps explain variation in Black respondents’ views toward a range of policies, including attitudes toward sagging pants laws and drug policies. Black respondents who scored higher on the Respectability Politics Scale were also more likely to support a policy that required welfare beneficiaries to be drug tested.
Results from the second study show how an embrace of respectability politics matters in the day-to-day lives of Black Americans. Respondents who more strongly embraced the politics of respectability responded more negatively to behavior described across the three scenarios. They reported being more bothered by the behavior, were more likely to say that it was appropriate for someone to say something to the individuals engaged in the negatively stereotyped behavior, and responded that it was more important that the individuals change their behavior.
This work highlights the diversity and complexity of Black public opinion and develops a theoretical and empirical account of the relationship between respectability politics and Black Americans’ punitive attitudes. Jefferson suggests that future work of this sort is necessary if we are to understand how punitive social systems are maintained.
- Leann Mclaren is a Ph.D. candidate at Duke University where she studies American Politics, with a focus on Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. She is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship recipient (NSF-GRFP) and an APSA Minority Fellowship Program recipient. Leann’s dissertation explores how Black immigrant candidates navigate identity in political campaigns. Her other projects include mapping Black political behavior generally, specifically in the realms of social movements, and political participation. Leann holds a B.A. from the University of Connecticut and was an APSA Ralph Bunche Summer Institute Scholar.
- Article details: JEFFERSON, HAKEEM “The Politics of Respectability and Black Americans’ Punitive Attitudes.”, American Political Science Review
- About the APSA Public Scholarship Program.