Can success deflect racism? Clothing and perceptions of African American men

ABSTRACT

We examined the effect of different clothing styles on the perceptions of African American men. Using a between-group design, we tested whether participants perception of African American models wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts (“swagger”), clothing showing they won an event, or formal clothing, would vary. Participants (N = 143) viewed four African American models in one of three conditions. Multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVA) with Symbolic Racism Scale scores as a covariate revealed that participants rated models in Formal clothing significantly higher than models in winning clothing in intelligence, p <.001, trustworthiness, p <.001, and warmth p =.005. Models wearing formal clothing or winning clothing were also rated significantly higher than models wearing swagger clothing on several traits. Participant’s Symbolic Racism Score significantly affected their ratings of models. Results suggest that the clothing that an African American wears, as well as viewer prejudice, affects the impression that the viewer makes.

KEYWORDS:

• Clothing
• Racism
• Stereotyping
• Prejudice
• Swagger

Acknowledgment

We thank Cody Newton for his help designing the study and collecting data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/qytak/.

Open scholarship

  This article has earned the Center for Open Science badge for Open Data and Open Materials. The data and materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/qytak/.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Regan A. R. Gurung

Regan A. R. Gurung is Director of the General Psychology program and the Center for Teaching and Learning at Oregon State University.

Rosalyn Stoa

Rosalyn Stoa is completing her Bachelor’s of Science degree at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Nicholas Livingston

Nicholas Livingston is a graduate student in the counseling psychology program and the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Hannah Mather

Hannah Mather is completing her Bachelor’s of Science degree at Oregon State University.