Symbolic racism, legal authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation: An investigation of correlates and predictors of attitudes regarding police use of force

The results of this study found that symbolic racism, legal authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation (SDO) were correlated but predicted each other to a limited extent. Specifically, symbolic racism predicted both SDO and legal authoritarianism, whereas the latter two measures were inversely related when the variance they shared with the former was controlled. White respondents scored higher on all measures compared to non-White respondents. Male respondents scored higher on SDO than female respondents, with White male respondents tending to demonstrate the highest scores.;Legal authoritarianism was found to predict positive attitudes regarding police efficacy and image, which were higher among White than non-White respondents. With regard to approval of the farce used by police in a hypothetical encounter with a suspect, Whites and males tended to be more permissive than their non-White and female counterparts. Symbolic racism emerged as a stronger predictor for approval of force than legal authoritarianism, regardless of the race of the suspect in the encounter. The suspect's race was a factor in non-White respondents' judgments of appropriateness of force, who reacted most favorably to uses of force against White suspects. White respondents were found to show no significant difference in their approvals of low and high uses of force.;Finally, symbolic racism, legal authoritarianism, and pro-police attitudes correlated with perceptions that the officers in the scenario would probably experience harsher administrative sanctions. Conservatism, symbolic racism, legal authoritarianism, SDO, and pro-police attitudes were associated with a preference for lighter sanctions. Non-White respondents tended to perceive that the sanctions against the officers would probably not be as severe as they deserved.;Key Words. Racism, Authoritarianism, Social dominance, Police, Use of force.