It's Not the Message, It's The Messenger: Organizational Identity and White Men's Opposition to Women's and African Americans' Civic Participation.

This article investigates how white men in the United States respond to civic organizations promoting social change agendas linked explicitly to collective identities of women or Black Americans. Through three online experiments with national samples of white men, the study finds that respondents are significantly more likely to disapprove of organizations labeled as a "Black Alliance" or a "Women's Alliance" compared to those simply called an "Alliance," despite identical universalistic mission statements. This disapproval of organizational identity mediates lower support for the organizations and their goals, confirming a key micro-level assumption underlying macro-level theories of structural racism, ethnic competition, and power devaluation—that resistance from privileged groups is triggered by the perceived linkage of social change agendas to subordinate group identities. The findings highlight the structural nature of racial and gender inequality, showing that opposition to progressive policies often stems from the association of these policies with marginalized groups rather than their substantive content.