Study Significance
The authors investigate whether explicitly racial and inflammatory speech by political elites can reduce social constraints on prejudiced citizens and thereby encourage them to express and act on their prejudices, a concern in contexts where equality norms are widespread but some citizens retain deep racial biases.
Data and Measurement
The study used a survey experiment embedded within an online panel study to measure respondents' expression of prejudice and willingness to act on prejudices under different elite speech conditions.
Comparison Design
The experiment compared prejudiced citizens' responses in the absence of prejudiced elite speech to their responses when exposed to explicitly racial and inflammatory elite speech, with particular attention to whether other elites tacitly condoned that speech.
Main Findings and Interpretation
The results show that prejudiced citizens restrain expression of their prejudice when prejudiced elite speech is absent, but are emboldened to both express and act on their prejudices when exposed to explicitly racial and inflammatory elite speech, especially when that speech is tacitly condoned by other elites.
