@article{55706,
  author = {Paul Frymer},
  title = {Racism Revised: Courts, Labor Law, and the Institutional Construction of Racial Animus},
  abstract = { <p>How should we understand and explain individual acts of racism? Despite extensive debate about~the broader place and importance of racism in America, there is surprisingly little theoretical or~empirical analysis of what leads individuals to commit racist acts. In contrast to most political~scientists who understand racism as an individual psychological attitude{\textemdash}{\textendash}an irrational prejudice{\textemdash}{\textendash}I~argue that individual manifestations of racism are the result of a complex set of factors, and that latent~psychology is less helpful to understanding them than are the maneuverings and behavior of strategic~actors following rules and incentives provided by institutions. We need to examine the ways in which~institutions encourage racist acts by motivating people to behave in a racist manner or behave in a manner~that motivates others to do so. To further explore and compare institutional and individual-psychological~approaches to understanding racism, I examine manifestations of racism in labor union elections. I~analyze and contrast more than 150 cases in which the National Labor Relations Board and U.S. federal~appellate courts formally responded to reported violations of racism in a union election. The principles of~this approach can easily be applied to other contexts and suggests that racism in society is less intractable~and innate than malleable and politically determined.</p> },
  year = {2005},
  journal = {American Political Science Review},
  volume = {99},
  pages = {373-387},
  language = {eng},
}