The Browning of America
Jennifer Richeson on political threat in a browning America
America is changing. A majority of infants are, for the
first time in US history, nonwhite — and the rest of the population is
expected to follow suit in the coming decades. The number of religiously
affiliated Americans is at a record low, and the share of foreign-born
residents is historically high.
Yale psychologist (and MacArthur genius) Jennifer
Richeson has done pioneering work on the way perceptions of demographic
threat and change affect people’s political opinions, voting behavior,
and ideas about themselves. The short answer? The more conscious we are
of other groups gaining strength, the more politically conservative we
become.
What Richeson explains in this conversation is the crucial context of American politics in this era. If all you listen to on this list is this podcast and the Lilliana Mason conversation, you’ll have a better handle on what’s driving the age of Trump.
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