An Integrated Threat Theory of Prejudice

On the "worst of t imes" side of the ledger is the fact that the g reat legislative in i­ tiatives that were designed to improve interg roup re lations are becoming rel ics of the past. Certainly this has happened to school desegregation and the war on pov­ erty, and it appears to be happening with affi rmative action . Of the major legislative in itiatives of the 1 960's, on ly one stands unchal lenged today. Americans are sti l l strongly in favor o f civi l rights. Wh ite Americans general ly ag ree with t he premises underlying the other programs, but they increasingly object to the pol icies that are used to implement them. In a recent book, Kinder and Sanders ( 1 996) present data ind icati ng…