Racial health inequalities spark more support for change than economic disparities

Racial disparities related to health and physical well-being motivate Americans to take action for social change more than racial disparities related to other factors, like economics, a new study finds. This is because health-related racial inequalities are perceived to be more unjust.

The results suggest that framing racial disparities to tap into feelings of moral injustice may motivate policy reform – a finding of potential interest to policymakers, social movements, and citizens seeking to gain support for actions to reduce racial inequality. "…this work can help us understand why violations of physical needs and safety can be powerful determinants of civilian movements for change," write the authors.

In the United States, racial disparities are systemic across many areas of everyday life. For example, Black Americans experience disproportionally negative outcomes in domains as varied as wealth, health, and social belonging. However, efforts to muster support for the policies needed to alleviate these disparities have had limited success. Movements pursuing social change – particularly those affecting marginalized communities like the Flint Michigan water crisis and Black Lives Matter movement – are often catalyzed and sustained by specific events that garner mainstream attention. Although research has shown that people often support action against situations they perceive as unjust or unfair, the types of racial disparities that are most likely to spark support for change remain unclear.

Brown et al. designed a series of experiments to evaluate how groups of randomly assigned Americans responded to information about racial disparities in health, economic factors, or social belongingness. They found that information about health disparities spurred greater support for action compared to economic- or belonging-based disparities and led to greater social media engagement and support for policies designed to reduce disparities. According to the authors, these effects were driven, in part, by the perception that racial disparities in health and physical well-being are more unjust and violate "morally sacred values." In a related Perspective, Allison Earl and Veronica Derricks describe the work of Brown et al. as highlighting "perceived injustice as a lever to motivate action on racial gaps.")