Changing Minds, If Not Hearts by Glaser James M.;Ryan Timothy J.;

Author:Glaser, James M.;Ryan, Timothy J.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 2013-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Table 4.4. Retributive Justice Resonates with White Conservatives

Support for reparations

White conservatives

All other whites

Generic retributive frame

.14

(50)

.22

(130)

t

—

1.14

Damages condition with apology

.20

(55)

.28

(170)

t

—

1.09

Damages condition without apology

.39

(51)

.40

(116)

t

—

.05

* p < .10 ** p < .05 *** p < .01 (two-tailed)

Practical, If Not Virtuous

There is a real challenge in processing reparations, with their overtones of conflict and concession, through majoritarian institutions. We would expect group conflict dynamics to contribute to hostility and resistance on the part of the majority group. The findings of this chapter, however, suggest that concessions need not always generate resistance. When the concession is tied to a specific event, when it is taken through a process meant to accommodate it—in short, when it can be cast as retributive justice—resistance subsides in favor of other considerations.

The greater appeal of retributive concessions may have a real impact on which groups get what in politics. Consider how support for reparations for blacks differs from reparations directed toward Asian Americans for misdeeds committed by the United States government in World War II. The Japanese internment, because it is more recent and specific, is easier to cast in terms of retributive justice than slavery as a whole. This observation may help explain why 43 percent of whites support an apology for the internment, but only 30 percent support it for slavery. When it comes to monetary payments, the gap is even larger: 26 percent support payments to Asians versus just 4 percent supporting payments to blacks (Dawson and Popoff 2004).

Some might say that a retributive approach is less virtuous than a restorative approach. After all, it could be transformational to heal society through conciliation and agreement. But the retributive approach aligns with how many people think about justice in this country, and that is what gives retributive reparations their larger symbolic meaning. The retributive approach also suggests a way to seek racial progress more broadly. Many of the attitudes that whites (and others) bring to racial issues revolve around concepts of responsibility, individualism, and just deserts, such as the belief that society is open to progress only if African Americans and other minorities take greater responsibility for themselves. Responsibility and just deserts can work in the other direction, however. Society can have a responsibility (government can have responsibility) by the same logic of just deserts that often works against blacks. Our challenge is to ensure that these considerations receive fair attention in our thinking about race and racial issues.

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