Perceived Group Competition and Charitable Giving: Racial Prejudice Affect as a Mediating Factor

Abstract

Extending Blumer’s group position theory into the domain of civic engagement, the present study identifies an intergroup social-psychological attitude linked to charitable giving: perceived immigrant job competition. Using the 2006 Portraits of American Life Study (N = 2,539), binary logistic regression models estimating the odds of giving money to a stranger indicate a negative association with perceived immigrant job competition for White and Black respondents. No association is found for Hispanics, Asians, or those identifying with other ethnoracial categories. Furthermore, race-related affect is found to mediate this association for White respondents, but not Black respondents, further emphasizing the relevance of the sense of dominant group position and the group position theory of racial prejudice. Future research on diversity and civic engagement should include and test individual-level measures associated with the social psychology of intergroup relations, in addition to the population-level measures of ethnic heterogeneity already employed.