Trends in Antiblack Prejudice, 1972-1984: Region and Cohort Effects

Abstract

The 1972-84 trend in antiblack prejudice in the United States is decomposed with the use of a better method for isolating the cohort replacement component of a trend. Three major findings emerge. First, antiblack prejudice (as measured by questions in the General Social Survey) has declined in recent years; this is true for the South, for the non-South, and for the United States as a whole. Second, the decline in prejudice stems from cohort replacement (the replacement of older, more prejudiced birth cohorts with younger, less prejudiced ones) as well as from attitude change itself; in fact, in some instances cohort replacement is the more important source of the decline. Third, antiblack prejudice is declining more rapidly in the South; as a result, the regional difference in antiblack prejudice is shrinking.