NaDiRa short study: Measuring racism

Scale development to measure racist ideologies and attitudes

National Monitoring of Discrimination and Racism (NaDiRa)

Project head: Prof. Dr. Ralf Wölfer

Project team:

• Mara Simon
• Ralf Wölfer
• Laura Mohr

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Project description:

How can current forms of racist attitudes be measured in population surveys? The instruments used in German-language social research to measure racist attitudes and ideologies are outdated, methodologically flawed and bear little relation to current research and theory. Therefore, we have developed scales based on qualitative research that can adequately measure how racist beliefs emerge in the 21st century. Based on a media discourse analysis, we inductively and deductively formed categories that we used to operationalise items and create scales. 

Results:

In total, we developed seven scales that survey different aspects of racist beliefs:

• Denial of racism
• Overt racism
• Defence against racism
• Racism and police
• (Post-)Colonial knowledge
• Perceptions of discrimination
• Attitudes towards migration

A selection of scales has already been used for a first survey of racism monitoring. First quantitative analyses show satisfactory psychometric properties.

Surprising insights:

Firstly, it was remarkable for us how far the understanding varies in the media narratives of what racism and consequently racist ways of thinking and acting are. Secondly, we found surprisingly pronounced, intense and widespread (emotional) defensive reactions of the majority society to racism debates. Both of these findings are problematic in that they make it difficult to engage deeply with racism in the majority society. 

Relevance to practice:

The scales are used for the surveys conducted as part of the Racism Monitor. In addition, they are available to academia for improved measurement of racist attitudes.

Short studies in preparation for the Racism Monitor:

In order to prepare a comprehensive Racism Monitor, DeZIM called on academics* from the DeZIM research community in 2020 to develop innovative study ideas. These should extend existing research projects, pursue new and innovative approaches or build an infrastructure to research racism. By 2021, more than 120 researchers at the six locations of the DeZIM research community had conducted a total of 34 short studies. These are divided into six thematic priorities:

• Health system
• Education system and labour market
• Institutional racism
• Dealing with experiences of racism
• Participation and the media
• Racist ideologies and attitudes

Funding: Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Third-party funding)