White Americans in black impoverished areas are more likely to blame racial inequality efforts

A stunning paradox emerged in new research published this week in psychosocial and personality science: White Americans living in counties with higher black poverty rates are more likely to see the existence of racial equality of opportunities, while ascribe racial economic differences to the lack of effort by Black Americans.

The comprehensive study, led by Dr. Nicolas Sommet of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, analyzed data from more than 17,000 participants from hundreds of U.S. counties, combined observation and experimental methods to study how the exposure of racial inequality shapes beliefs about its causes.

“Our findings highlight how we live in shapes to understand racial inequality,” Dr. Sommet explained. “We found that white Americans living in areas with high black poverty rates paradoxically believe that there is racial equality in opportunities and attribute black poverty to lack of effort.”

Researchers found that in U.S. counties, black poverty points were 10 percentage points higher than the average, and white residents were 13% more likely to attribute racial inequality to a lack of motivation for black Americans. This pattern is in line with how Black Americans in the same county cope with high poverty rates in their communities—in fact, they believe there is an 11% lower chance of racial equality.

The study covers three different studies. First, using Gallup’s series on ethnic minority rights and relations, researchers examined the correlation between county-level black poverty rates and beliefs about racial equality among different ethnic groups. The second study used general social survey data to focus on how white Americans in black-poor areas attributed to racial inequality and their support for equity policies. The final component is an experiment in which white Americans are randomly assigned to imagine visiting areas with high poverty in blacks.

Experimental findings show that white Americans exposed to black poverty scenarios experienced increased interracial anxiety and identity threats, which in turn led them to attribute racial inequality to internal factors such as lack of effort.

“Our research does not recommend intentional efforts; rather, it provides evidence of a mechanism for self-protection,” Dr. Sommet notes. “When faced with racial inequality, white Americans adopt the belief that black Americans are responsible for their own economic hardships to alleviate discomfort with privilege or group responsibility.”

These attributions have significant policy implications. Research shows that this belief predicts a decrease in support for initiatives aimed at addressing racial disparities, which may create a feedback loop that strengthens existing inequalities. When white Americans attribute poverty to personal choice rather than structural factors, they reduce support for government aid programs or affirmative action policies.

Interestingly, although exposure to black poverty has always led to white Americans to emphasize individual interpretations, its effects on structural interpretations such as discrimination are less consistent throughout the study.

“Not all of our assumptions have been confirmed,” Dr. Sommet added. “Their perception of systemic factors was less consistent throughout the study. This highlights how some beliefs become stronger and do not necessarily undermine others.”

The study is based on the theory of social identity, which shows that individuals are motivated to maintain a positive understanding of their own group. In areas where the most obvious evidence of racial inequality is the motivation may be particularly strong.

The study also found that Hispanic Americans showed a response similar to white Americans, which the researchers believe may reflect the fact that more than 75% of Hispanic Americans in general social survey data were identified as white and became more conservative over time.

Dr. Sommet suggests that these findings may go beyond black-and-white relationships: “Future research could examine whether similar psychological patterns occur in other situations (e.g., majority members encounter poverty in marginalized ethnic, religious, or cultural communities).

With more than one in five Black Americans living below the poverty line (the rate of white Americans), understanding these attributions may be critical to addressing persistent racial economic disparities in the United States.

These findings portray the complexity of how geographical environments influence racial attitudes and suggest that in areas where racial inequality is most obvious, psychological defenses may make addressing these differences particularly challenging.