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posted by janrinok on Saturday June 02 2018, @05:31AM   Printer-friendly
from the was-not-expecting-that dept.

White Americans' fear of losing their socioeconomic standing in the face of demographic change may be driving opposition to welfare programs, even though whites are major beneficiaries of government poverty assistance, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University.

While social scientists have long posited that racial resentment fuels opposition to such anti-poverty programs as food stamps, Medicaid and Temporary Aid to Needy Families, this is the first study to show the correlation experimentally, demonstrating a causal relationship between attitudes to welfare and threatened racial status.

"With policymakers proposing cuts to the social safety net, it's important to understand the dynamics that drive the welfare backlash," said study lead author Rachel Wetts, a Ph.D. student in sociology at UC Berkeley. "This research suggests that when whites fear their status is on the decline, they increase opposition to programs intended to benefit poorer members of all racial groups."

The findings, to be published May 30 in the journal Social Forces, highlight a welfare backlash that swelled around the 2008 Great Recession and election of Barack Obama.

Notably, the study found anti-welfare sentiment to be selective insofar as threats to whites' standing led whites to oppose government assistance programs they believed largely benefit minorities, while not affecting their views of programs they thought were more likely to advantage whites.

"Our findings suggest that these threats lead whites to oppose programs they perceive as primarily benefiting racial minorities," said study senior author Robb Willer, a professor of sociology and social psychology at Stanford University.

[...] "Overall, these results suggest whites' perceptions of rising minority power and influence lead them to oppose welfare programs," Wetts said.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 02 2018, @05:37AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 02 2018, @05:37AM (#687590)

    The title of this article sounds like someone projecting -- sounds like someone that needs to be ignored to the fringes of society.

    Starting Score:    0  points
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       Offtopic=1, Troll=1, Insightful=5, Informative=1, Funny=1, Total=9
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    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 02 2018, @05:43AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 02 2018, @05:43AM (#687591)

    "Amazing! How are you doing that!?" the man asked in amazement. In response, the little boy said nothing; magicians do not reveal their tricks, after all. Yes, the child was a magician. While the boy may have been young, he was already at the level of a professional; one might even refer to him as a prodigy. So, what was the magic trick that impressed the older man to such a degree? The answer could be found by looking at the boy's head.

    Backwards. The boy's head was fully twisted backwards, as though he were imitating an owl. It was no wonder the man was so amazed; this was quite the feat. The man congratulated the boy for his talent and then departed, never once looking back.

    For his next trick, the boy would spend the next several months rotting away and being devoured by maggots.

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 02 2018, @05:03PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 02 2018, @05:03PM (#687739)

    I took a college sociology course recently. My experience was that sociology is well defined as a science (specifically, Emile Durkheim's work), but the practitioners make no effort to follow the scientific method. Social scientists want the same status as scientists, but don't behave like scientists.

    If someone were to bother to read this study (it won't be me), I imagine it will combine some scientific style data gathering with conclusions based on opinion.

    I think the idea of science based sociology is great. It could lead to improvements in life overall. But my experience taking an honest stab at it is "science" is led by political ideology.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Saturday June 02 2018, @10:51PM

      If someone were to bother to read this study (it won't be me), I imagine it will combine some scientific style data gathering with conclusions based on opinion.

      You mean kind of like an SN commenter who draws a conclusion not only without evidence and announcing their ignorance by self-righteously announcing that they won't even attempt to prove their hypothesis? You know, like you.

      Well done AC!

      --
      No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 02 2018, @10:59PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 02 2018, @10:59PM (#687831)

      I mean, just look at the conclusions being drawn here; they are almost completely unknowable. How could you possibly know what the reason for a welfare backlash is? Unless you can directly read people's minds, then you'll never be able to scientifically determine whether or not they believe what they claimed to believe. This is just junk 'science'.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday June 02 2018, @11:14PM (1 child)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 02 2018, @11:14PM (#687837) Journal

        Unless you can directly read people's minds

        Say by asking them questions and they tell you what they claim to think? That's pretty direct.

        then you'll never be able to scientifically determine whether or not they believe what they claimed to believe

        Why is that relevant? Do we have a reason to believe that there is a lot of undetectable deception in this sort of thing?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 02 2018, @11:23PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 02 2018, @11:23PM (#687842)

          Say by asking them questions and they tell you what they claim to think?

          And how do you scientifically verify that their answers were truthful and correct?

          Do we have a reason to believe that there is a lot of undetectable deception in this sort of thing?

          We don't know the answer, so we can't just assume they are truthful and correct; that is deeply unscientific.