The deserved uproar over the NY Post cartoon
Some of the ads discussed below might be considered debatable examples of racism, and perhaps commendably to a current generation exposed to a more positive environment, but there is no question about the imagery used in the New York Post cartoon that has caused a current, deserved uproar (see, e.g. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/chimp-stimulus-cartoon-raises-racism-concerns/). This columnist does a good job of explaining some of the evidence to support the contention that the cartoon is racist and identifying behavioral consequences.
I found an interesting site called Stop Dog Whistle Racism. Dog whistle racism uses the analogy to a dog whistle that operates at a frequency beyond human perception. The human analogy is supposed to be to code words that are recognized by those who agree with the underlying racism. The Dog Whistle web site further defines this use of code words to be symbolic racism.
Symbolic racism has a slightly different but related meaning within social psychology. There have been several types of more subtle racism defined and measured, and one is symbolic racism, introduced by Sears and colleagues (e.g., see Henry & Sears, 2002). Symbolic racism is characterized by these beliefs:
racial discrimination is no longer a serious obstacle to blacks’ prospects for a good life; that blacks’ continuing disadvantages are due to their own unwillingness to take responsibility for their lives; and that, as a result, blacks’ continuing anger about their own treatment, their demands for better treatment, and the various kinds of special attention given to them are not truly justified (Henry & Sears, 2002, p. 254).
Similar in concept to symbolic racism is modern racism (e.g., McConahay et al., 1981), and McConahay (1986) also developed a Modern Racism Scale. (A parallel measure for sexism has been developed by Swim et al., [1995]). All these terms and accompanying measures are based on the idea that modern racism is more subtle and less oriented around overt discriminatory actions.
References
Henry, P. J. & Sears, D. O. (2002). The Symbolic Racism 2000 Scale. Political Psychology, 23 (2), 253-283.
McConahay, J. B. (1986). Modern racism, ambivalence, and the Modern Racism Scale. In J. F. Dovidio & S. L. Gaertner (Eds.), Prejudice, discrimination, and racism (pp. 91-125). Orlando, FL: Academic Press
McConahay, J. B., Hardee, B. B., & Batts, V. (1981). Has racism declined in America? It depends upon
who is asking and what is asked. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 25, 563-579.
Swim, J. K., Aikin, K. J., Hall, W. S., & Hunter, B. A. (1995). Sexism and racism: Old-fashioned and modern prejudices. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68(2), 199-214.