The Anger Rule: Racial Inequality and Constraints on Black Politicians - Hardcover

Antoine J. Banks , Ismail K. White

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1009275208 ISBN 13: 9781009275200

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2024

Synopsis

Examines how Black politicians are penalized for expressing anger and demonstrates how this anger penalty helps sustain racial inequality.

About this title

About the Author

In The Anger Rule, Antoine J. Banks and Ismail K. White examine how Black politicians are uniquely penalized for expressing anger, especially anger related to race. Drawing on social psychology and philosophy, Banks and White demonstrate how this anger penalty helps sustain racial inequality. They argue that anger infers power because it propels individuals to change the status quo. When Black politicians are constrained from expressing anger, it limits their ability to mobilize against wrongs and rally fellow group members; it also signals a lack of power to Black voters. This argument is assessed using a multi-method approach of national survey experiments and content analysis of United States presidential and House congressional speeches and remarks. The findings show that Black politicians and voters are aware of the anger penalty, therefore constraining their anger in political spaces to avoid backlash from those who maintain the racial status quo.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1009275208
• ISBN 13: 9781009275200
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 300