Spillover Racism: Explain Discrimination against Asian Americans
Abstract
How do we understand the increasing anti-Asian racism in recent years? I argue that the discrimination against Asian American results from the perception of threats from Asian countries. Americans regard these Asian citizens as a symbol of foreign threats and a possible approach through which foreign threats reach them. Therefore, they transfer their negative attitude toward Asian countries to Asian Americans. I call this type of racism spillover racism. Using data from ANES 2020, the study provides evidence for the existence of spillover racism. Results indicate that Americans who perceive more threats from Asian countries are more likely to have negative attitudes towards Asian Americans, preferring fewer Asian American politicians and believing that they have too much influence in American politics, despite their underrepresentation in U.S. politics. This research note provides insight into the mechanism underlying the rise in discrimination against Asian Americans during the Covid-19 outbreak and suggests that the increasing tension between China and the U.S. will lead to further discrimination against Asian Americans. The findings highlight the importance of understanding the impact of foreign policy and international relations on domestic racial attitudes and discrimination.
