(Mis)Informed: What Americans Know About Social Groups and Why it Matters for Politics (Elements in Race, Ethnicity, and Politics) - Softcover

Abrajano, Marisa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108794815 ISBN 13: 9781108794817

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2021

Synopsis

This Element examines just how much the public knows about some of America's most stigmatized social groups, who comprise 40.3% of the population, and evaluates whether misinformation matters for shaping policy attitudes and candidate support. The authors design and field an original survey containing large national samples of Black, Latino, Asian, Muslim, and White Americans, and include measures of misinformation designed to assess the amount of factual information that individuals possess about these groups. They find that Republicans, Whites, the most racially resentful, and consumers of conservative news outlets are the most likely to be misinformed about socially marginalized groups. Their analysis also indicates that misinformation predicts hostile policy support on racialized issues; it is also positively correlated with support for Trump. They then conducted three studies aimed at correcting misinformation. Their research speaks to the prospects of a well-functioning democracy, and its ramifications on the most marginalized.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1108794815
• ISBN 13: 9781108794817
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 88