Race, Prejudice and Support for Racial Justice Countermovements: The Case of “Blue Lives Matter”

In this article, we develop and test three propositions related to the status of a primary counterpoint of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement—“Blue Lives Matter” (BlueLM). Employing correlational and causal analyses on a wide array of data, including public opinion, news and social media, interne...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPolitical behavior Vol. 46; no. 3; pp. 1491 - 1510
Main Authors Newman, Benjamin J., Reny, Tyler T., Merolla, Jennifer L.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer US 01.09.2024
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Assaults
Black Lives Matter movement
Concept formation
Countermovements
Criminal investigations
Demonstrations & protests
Evidence
Extremism
Internet
Law enforcement
Minority & ethnic groups
Original Paper
Police
Police community relations
Political behavior
Political Science
Political Science and International Relations
Political Science and International Studies
Politics
Polls & surveys
Prejudice
Public opinion
Race
Racial justice
Racism
Riots
Social justice
Social media
Social networks
Sociology
Victimization
Voters
White supremacy
Blue lives matter
Protest
Black lives matter
Political psychology
Countermovement
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Summary:In this article, we develop and test three propositions related to the status of a primary counterpoint of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement—“Blue Lives Matter” (BlueLM). Employing correlational and causal analyses on a wide array of data, including public opinion, news and social media, internet searches, and merchandise sales, our findings are threefold: first, we offer evidence that Whiteness is associated with attitudinal and behavioral indicators of support for BlueLM; second, we present evidence that support for BlueLM is systematically linked to White racial prejudice; and third, we demonstrate that BlueLM activity is caused by BLM protest following a high-profile police killing of a Black man, which comports with the conceptualization of BlueLM as engaging in a process of “competitive victimhood” against BLM. Together, these findings suggest that BlueLM is a new incarnation of an ongoing history of White countermobilization against organized Black claims-making activity.
ISSN:0190-9320
1573-6687
DOI:10.1007/s11109-023-09881-y