White and Black Perceptions of Racial Values

Abstract

This paper examines the association between white and black racial values and the perceptions of white and black racial values. Data are presented that confirm recent findings regarding the distorted conceptions that whites have of other whites' racial preferences. The data also show that the relationship between values and perceptions accounts for patterned similarities and differences between white and black estimates of white support for segregation and their estimates of black support for desegregation. The findings support the hypothesis that individuals who are located in different parts of the social structure but who share the same values tend to perceive the social world in similar ways.