Rejection and Deflection: The Case of the "poor White Trash" Stereotype

The purpose of this dissertation was to introduce and test a theory of "rejection and deflection" (RAD). This theory proposes that majority group members (middle- and upper class Whites) can deflect accusations of being racist by rejecting a subset of their racial in-group (poor Whites); and, as a result of this rejection and deflection process, are more likely to discriminate against the racial out-group. Results from a sample of 166 middle and upper income White participants suggested that: (1) people who were not given the opportunity to reject poor Whites were more likely to recommend a Black job applicant for a high status position than were people not given the opportunity to reject poor Whites; (2) participants tended to distance themselves from poor Whites and attributed more negative qualities and less positive qualities to poor Whites than they did to middle class Whites; and, (3) modern racism (McConahay, 1986) positively predicted rejection of poor Whites. Implications for this research as it relates to the interaction of race and social class are discussed along with directions for future research on RAD theory.