NCJ Number
138452
Journal
Social Problems Volume: 39 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1992) Pages: 92-107
Date Published
1992
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Using data from a 1989 factorial survey of 194 white students at a small liberal arts college, this study found that observers' perception of the seriousness of verbal racial harassment depends both on the harassing behavior itself and on the account offered by the harasser for the behavior.
Abstract
The questionnaire administered to the respondents contained 10 vignettes about racial harassment. These computer-generated vignettes were based on sets of randomly selected story elements organized into "dimensions." Respondents were asked to answer the same question about each vignette: "From your own perspective, how serious is the offense, if any, described in this story?" A 15-point seriousness rating scale was used. Findings indicate that respondents' perceived seriousness of racial harassment was due primarily to the harassing behavior itself and secondarily to the accounts offered by the harasser after the incident. Other features of the situation included in these vignettes did not affect perceived seriousness much, if at all. Only some harasser accounts succeeded in reducing perceptions of seriousness. Harasser apologies reduced perceived seriousness, but other accounts either had no consistent effect on severity perceptions or slightly increased seriousness. These results parallel those for sexual harassment derived from the same survey. 8 tables and 37 references