Racial Nostalgia Experiment

With calls to “make America great again”, many Americans, especially White Americans, feel as though the country has lost something of value. These calls also suggest that there is a previous time in the country’s history that Americans can reclaim. These feelings hinge on the construct of collective nostalgia. The purpose of this research is to explore a particular manifestation of collective nostalgia--racial nostalgia--or longing for a previous time in a racial groups’ past. Specifically, we will explore how racial nostalgia relates to the perception of realistic and symbolic threat, the endorsement of extreme anti-immigrant policies, and the endorsement of White nationalist beliefs.