Today I learned a new term that I feel I should have known -- 'symbolic racism'

From the AJC's Political Insider:

Alan Abramowitz, the Emory University political scientist, had an op-ed piece in Sunday’s Washington Post in which he argues that the resistance of white Democrats to Barack Obama “remains a serious threat to his chances in November.”

Read the entire article here. But this is the heart of his argument:

”Racial attitudes have changed dramatically in the United States over the past several decades, of course, and overtly racist beliefs are much less prevalent among white Americans of all classes today. But a more subtle form of prejudice, which social scientists sometimes call symbolic racism, is still out there — especially among working-class whites.

“Symbolic racism means believing that African American poverty and other problems are largely the result of lack of ambition and effort, rather than white racism and discrimination. Who holds symbolically racist beliefs? A relatively large portion of white voters in general and white working-class voters in particular, according to the 2004 American National Election Study, the best data available on this topic.”