Reverse racism, sometimes referred to asreverse discrimination,[1] is the concept thataffirmative action and similarcolor-conscious programs for redressingracial inequality are forms ofanti-white racism.[2] The concept is often associated withconservative social movements,[2][3] and reflects a belief that social and economic gains byBlack people and otherpeople of color cause disadvantages forwhite people.[4][5][6]
Belief in reverse racism is widespread in the United States; however, there is little to no empirical evidence thatwhite Americans are disadvantaged as a group.[7] Racial and ethnic minorities generally lack the ability to damage the interests of whites, who remain the dominant group in the U.S.[8][9] Claims of reverse racism tend to ignore such disparities in the exercise of power,[1][10][11] which most sociologists and psychologists include in their definition of racism.[1][8]
Allegations of reverse racism by opponents of affirmative action began to emerge in the 1970s,[2][12] and have formed part of aracial backlash against social gains by people of color.[13] While the U.S. dominates the debate over the issue, the concept of reverse racism has been used internationally to some extent whereverwhite supremacy has diminished, such as in post-apartheid South Africa.[4]
The concept ofreverse racism in the United States is commonly associated withconservative opposition to color-conscious policies aimed at addressing racial inequality, such asaffirmative action. Amy E. Ansell ofEmerson College identifies three main claims about reverse racism: that government programs to redress racial inequality create "invisible victims" inwhite men; that racial preferences violate the individual right ofequal protection before the law; and thatcolor consciousness itself prevents moving beyond the legacy of racism.[2] The concept of reverse racism has also been used in relation to various expressions of hostility, prejudice or discrimination toward white people by members of minority groups.[14]
Concerns that the advancement ofAfrican Americans might cause harm towhite Americans date back as far as theReconstruction Era in the context of debates over providingreparations for slavery.[2] Claims of reverse racism in the early 21st century tend to rely on individualanecdotes, often based on third- or fourth-hand reports, such as of a white person losing a job to a Black person.[9]
Allegations of reverse racism emerged prominently in the 1970s, building on theracially color-blind view that any preferential treatment linked to membership in a racial group was morally wrong.[2] SociologistBob Blauner argues that reverse racism had become the primary meaning ofracism among whites by the late 1970s, suggesting that conservatives andcentrist liberals in the U.S. had effectively "won the battle over the meaning of racism".[15] Where past race-conscious policies such asJim Crow have been used to maintainwhite supremacy, modern programs such as affirmative action aim to reduce racial inequality.[16] Despite affirmative-action programs' successes in doing so, conservative opponents claimed that such programs constituted a form of anti-white racism.[17] For example, sociologistNathan Glazer argued in his 1975 bookAffirmative Discrimination that affirmative action was a form of reverse racism[18][19] violating white people's right to equal protection under the law.[20] This view was boosted by the Supreme Court's decision inRegents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), which said thatracial quotas for minority students were discriminatory againstwhite people.[17]
Legal cases concerning so-called "reverse racism" date back as far as the 1970s, for instanceRegents of the University of California v. Bakke;Gratz v. Bollinger; andGrutter v. Bollinger (regarding discrimination in higher education admissions) andRicci v. DeStefano (regarding employment discrimination).[21] Such cases are rare; out of almost half a million complaints filed with theEqual Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) between 1987 and 1994, four percent were about reverse discrimination.[22] SociologistEduardo Bonilla-Silva writes that the actual number of reverse discrimination cases filed with the EEOC is quite small, and the vast majority are dismissed as unfounded.[23] Between 1990 and 1994, courts in the U.S. rejected all reverse discrimination cases as without merit.[22]
Since 2020, conservative activists such asStephen Miller andEdward Blum have challengeddiversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs as being discriminatory towards whites. Following the 2023 Supreme Court ruling against race-conscious affirmative action in college admissions, US courts have seen an increase in reverse discrimination claims,[24][25] with some individual plaintiffs being awarded damages against companies such asStarbucks andNovant Health.[26]
While not empirically supported,[7] belief in reverse racism is widespread in the United States,[10][27] primarily among white people.[6] Psychological studies with white Americans have shown that belief in anti-white discrimination is linked with support for the existing racial hierarchy in the U.S.[28][29] as well as the belief that "hard work" and meritocracy explain any racial disparities.[30][31] The idea that whites have become a socially disadvantaged group has contributed to the rise of conservative social movements such as theTea Party and support forDonald Trump.[3] Conservatives in the U.S. tend to believe that affirmative action based on membership in a designated racial group threatens the American system of individualism andmeritocracy.[32] Ansell associates the idea of reverse racism with that of the "angry white male"[2] and abacklash against government actions meant to remedy racial discrimination.[13]
The perception of decreasing anti-Black discrimination has been correlated with white people's belief in rising anti-white discrimination.[5] A survey inPennsylvania in the mid-1990s found that most white respondents (80%) thought it was likely that a white worker might lose a job or a promotion to a less qualified Black worker, while most Black respondents (57%) thought this was unlikely.[33] A majority (57%) of white respondents to a 2016 survey by thePublic Religion Research Institute said they believed discrimination against white people was as significant a problem as discrimination against Black people, while only a minority of African Americans (29%) and Hispanics (38%) agreed.[34][35] Researchers atTufts University andHarvard report that as of the early 2010s many white Americans feel as though they suffer the greatest discrimination among racial groups, despite data to the contrary.[27][36][37] Whereas Black respondents see anti-Black racism as a continuing problem, white ones tend to think it has largely disappeared, to the point that they see prejudice against white people as being more prevalent.[21][38] Among white respondents since the 1990s:
Whites have replaced Blacks as the primary victims of discrimination. This emerging perspective is particularly notable because by nearly any metric [...] statistics continue to indicate drastically poorer outcomes for Black than White Americans.[39]
Bonilla-Silva describes the "anti–affirmative action and 'reverse racism' mentality" that has become dominant since the 1980s as part of a "mean-spirited white racial animus".[12] He argues that this results from a new dominant ideology of "color-blind racism", which treats racial inequality as a thing of the past, thereby allowing it to continue by opposing concrete efforts at reform.[40] JournalistVann R. Newkirk II writes that white people's belief in reverse racism has steadily increased since thecivil rights movement of the 1960s.[41] Using data from the 2006Portraits of American Life Study, Damon Mayrl and Aliya Saperstein find that whites who claim to have experienced racial discrimination are "more likely to be racially self-aware, to be pessimistic about the future, and to have a recent history of unemployment compared to their non-discrimination-reporting peers".[42][non-primary source needed]
While there has been little empirical study on the subject of reverse racism, the few existing studies have found little evidence that white males, in particular, are victimized by affirmative-action programs.[4]Race relations in the United States have been historically shaped byEuropean imperialism and long-standing oppression of Blacks by whites,[14] who remain the dominant group.[8][9] Such disparities in power and authority are seen by scholars as an essential component ofracism; in this view, isolated examples of favoring disadvantaged people do not constitute racism.[1][43] In a widely reprinted article, legal scholarStanley Fish wrote that"'Reverse racism' is a cogent description of affirmative action only if one considers the cancer of racism to be morally and medically indistinguishable from the therapy we apply to it".[44]
SociologistEllis Cashmore writes that the termsreverse racism andreverse discrimination imply that racism is defined solely by individual beliefs and prejudices, ignoring the material relations between different groups.[14] SociologistJoe Feagin argues that the termreverse discrimination is anoxymoron in the context of U.S. race relations in that it obscures the "central issue ofsystemic racism" disadvantaging people of color.[45] Critical race theoristDavid Theo Goldberg says the notion of reverse racism represents a denial of the historical and contemporary reality of racial discrimination.[46] SociologistKaryn McKinney writes, "most claims that whites are victimizedas whites rely on false parallels, as they ignore the power differences between whites and people of color at the group level".[47] AnthropologistJane H. Hill argues that charges of reverse racism tend to deny the existence ofwhite privilege and power in society.[11] LinguistMary Bucholtz says the concept of reverse racism, which she callsracial reversal, "runs counter to or ignores empirically observable racial asymmetries regarding material resources and structural power".[48]
According to sociologistRutledge Dennis, individual members of minority groups in the United States "may be racists" toward white people, but cannot wield institutional power or shape the opportunities available to the majority as the white majority does in relation to minorities.[9] SociologistsMatthew Desmond andMustafa Emirbayer distinguish betweeninstitutional racism andinterpersonal racism,[49] arguing that while "members of all racial groups can harbor negative attitudes toward members of other groups", there is no "black institutional racism" or "reverse institutional racism" since people of color have not created a socially ingrained system of racial domination over white people.[50] Psychologist and educatorBeverly Daniel Tatum argues that racial bigotry or prejudices held by people of color are not comparable to white racism since "there is no systematic cultural and institutional support or sanction" for them.[51] Tatum writes, "In my view, reserving the termracist only for behaviors committed by Whites in the context of a White-dominated society is a way of acknowledging the ever-present power differential afforded Whites by the culture and institutions that make up the system of advantage and continue to reinforce notions of White superiority."[51]
Promotion ofsubstantive equality, for example through affirmative action, may violateformal equality of opportunity according toRichard Arneson.[52] Differences between equality concepts are also called Dilemma of difference.[53]
 | This sectionmay lendundue weight to individual allegations of reverse racism rather than the broader social impact of the term/concept. Please helpimprove it by rewriting it in abalanced fashion that contextualises different points of view.(March 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The concept ofreverse racism has been used by some white South Africans concerned about "reverse apartheid" following the end ofwhite-supremacist rule.[4] Affirmative action in South Africa's white-dominated civil service was also met with charges of "reverse racism".[54]
Nelson Mandela in 1995 described "racism in reverse" when Black students demonstrated in favor of changing the racial makeup of staff atSouth African universities.[55] Students denied Mandela's claim and argued that a great deal of ongoing actual racism persisted from apartheid.[56]
Mixed-race South Africans have also sometimes claimed to be victimized by reverse racism of the new government.[57] Similar accusations have been leveled byIndian andAfrikaner groups, who feel that they have not been dominant historically but now suffer from discrimination by the government.[58]
Helen Suzman, a prominent white anti-apartheid politician, charged theAfrican National Congress and the Mbeki administration with reverse racism since Mandela's departure in 1999.[59]
South African critics of the "reverse racism" concept use similar arguments as those employed by Americans.[60][verification needed]
[T]he termreverse racism (orreverse discrimination) has been coined to describe situations where typically advantaged people are relegated to inferior positions or denied social opportunities to benefit racial and ethnic minorities, or, in some instances, women. However, scholars argue that a critical component of racism is the broad exercise of authority and power and that isolated instances of favoring the disadvantaged over the privileged cannot be seen as constituting racism.
Reverse racism is a concept commonly associated with conservative opposition to affirmative action and other color-conscious victories of the civil rights movement in the United States and anti-racist movements abroad. While traditional forms of racism involve prejudice and discrimination on the part of whites against blacks, reverse racism is alleged to be a new form of anti-white racism practiced by blacks and/or the so-called civil rights establishment (alternately referred to as the anti-racism industry).
Reverse racism is the idea that the Civil Rights Movement not only ended the subordination of communities of color in all aspects of social life but also simultaneously led to a similar subordination of Whites. This idea is primarily supported by Whites who perceive gains in racial equity as losses in White status
[M]ost scholars within critical race theory, psychology, and sociology include notions of power in their definition of racism [...] This means that only the dominant group (i.e., whites in U.S. society) can enforce prejudiced and discriminatory laws, behavior, and cultural ideologies onto the minoritized group (i.e., people of Color).
[A]ffirmative action and black economic empowerment were controversial and often misrepresented. In a society in which the greater majority of desk and management jobs were held by whites, there was a clear need for action to move towards a more level job market. Yet many whites have persisted in claiming 'reverse racism'.
The students maintained that the university was living in the apartheid past with the upper echelons reserved for whites. The students are demanding that some jobs be reserved for Blacks. AZASM had denied the charge of reverse racism. They maintain it is unfair for thousands of Black teachers to be out of work while white teachers sit up in good jobs in Black schools.
But old feelings die hard, and some groups – in particular the Afrikaner and Indian minorities – even complain that they are now being targeted by a reverse racism.
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