Past-future asymmetry in identity-relevant perception of racism and inequality

Research has documented the identity relevance of racism perception, such that White Americans tend to deny the prevalence of racism and inequality in the United States to a greater extent than do Americans from other ethnic-racial groups. Across two studies (N = 971), we draw on temporal comparison theory to investigate how the identity relevance of such perceptions varies across past and future temporal periods. Specifically, we compared (1) the relationship between ethnic-racial identification and perceptions (Studies 1 and 2), (2) racial-group differences in perceptions (Study 2), and (3) perceptions of systemic (versus interpersonal) racism (Studies 1 and 2) across past and future periods. Results generally supported the temporal asymmetry hypothesis: the identity relevance of perceptions of racism and inequality decreased as temporal distance increased from the distant past to the present but remained strong and stable from the present to the future. This pattern suggests a contradiction in the subjective experience of time, such that people experience the distant past (1960) as less relevant to present self than the equidistant (2080) and even more distant (2100) future.