New study maps racism in the United States according to Google search data
MPRC faculty associates David Chae and Sacoby Wilson worked on a research team that has published a new study mapping racism in the United States according to the number of internet searches for the “n-word”. Most racism today operates at the subconscious level, making it notoriously difficult to measure. But people are more willing to express racist attitudes anonymously on the internet than they are in person. Though the researchers had no way to determine whether internet searches including the “n-word” were actually motivated by racist attitudes, they found a clear pattern showing that geographical areas with more “n-word” internet searches also had higher mortality rates for blacks, even after controlling for racial and socioeconomic variables. Previous research has shown that the prevalence of racist attitudes can contribute to poor health and socioeconomic outcomes.
"Racially motivated experiences of discrimination impact health via diminished socioeconomic attainment and by enforcing patterns in racial residential segregation, geographically isolating large segments of the Black population into worse neighborhood conditions," the authors write, summarizing existing research. "Racial discrimination in employment can also lead to lower income and greater financial strain, which in turn have been linked to worse mental and physical health outcomes."
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