Marley hypothesis

Original research

The original research for the Marley hypothesis was first proposed by scholars Jessica C. Nelson, Glenn Adams, and Phia Salter in 2012. They used a signal detection paradigm in their social experiments to explore their theory on how different groups perceive racism differently in a mirror reflection of their understanding of past racism. The experiment involved surveys completed by 199 European American students from a predominantly White university and 74 African American students from two historically Black universities. The studies found that the European American participants did not notice racism as much as the African American participants when given incidents and systemic manifestations of racism to observe. In addition, a difference in the extent of how well they knew past incidents of racism was seen, where European Americans scored lower on historical knowledge of such cases. This correlates with the study's hypothesized idea that identity is relevant to perceptions of racism, where systemic racism is present more strongly in self-image rather than isolated incidents. The study recognizes how a collective memory seen within a racial subgroup forms a collective identity which then embeds certain representations of history.

The hypothesis was coined in respect to the singer Bob Marley. Marley's lyrical and song compositions in the reggae genre were used to describe hope for those experiencing social oppression, using his music as a medium for prophetic social criticism. Marley is considered a popular singer and social icon rather than a social critic, as discourse around values and ideas are constantly changing and shifting. His social influence grew after he used his music to spread the Rastafari religion in response to Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey, who advocated on the ideologies of black nationalism and Pan-Africanism.

Scholars perceive three major shifts at the macro level that influenced these racial perceptions within the United States. This includes the civil rights movement which emerged during the 1960s, the changes in the immigration policy in 1965 that led to an increased rate of Hispanic and Asian immigrants, and the economical and political stability within less developed countries that led to mass migration. As the ethnic identity of Americans gradually shifted during these three macro shifts, the social discourse surrounding racist behavior and prejudices took place. The following increase in diversity also increased negative responses to issues surrounding race and immigration among Americans.

Follow-up study

A follow-up study was conducted by scholars Courtney M. Bonam, Vinoadharen Nair Das, Brett R. Coleman, and Phia Salter, who underwent two major social experiments in a conceptual replication of Nelson, Adams, and Salter's work to further analyse the Marley hypothesis. Study 1 analysed the responses of 111 European Americans and 43 African Americans, both from a racially diverse university. A similar pattern was seen with the original research were European Americans showed a lower understanding and knowledge of historical events involving racism. Their work emphasizes how a strong racial identity among the European Americans may further implement their denial towards systemic racism. Study 2 shows how people who had learned about the housing policy in U.S. history regarding its impact on African American ghettos had a higher level of acknowledgement towards systemic racism.

The study revolves around the concepts of prejudice and discrimination shaping one's perspectives on the outlook of racist occurrences. These are built from social rules and norms behind socially shared ideas within a specific group. Especially for the case of racism, prejudice is observed as being socio-historically constructed. As a result, the social environment and historical racial events linking European Americans to racism is proposed to color how they perceive certain acts of racism. A lack of exposure to environments outside an individual from the privileged group, especially regarding personal, micro-level interactions with the minority group, can strengthen a certain bias or stereotype. This perception strongly depends on the position a certain group is within the social structure. The prejudice towards the African American community is likely to cause widespread social exclusion and devaluation, in comparison to the European American community where the attributions to prejudice focuses more on localized reasons. The problem within this pattern is discussed to be how it impacts self-perception and assumed discrimination. These factors contribute to shaping perceptions on the current racist events placed in front of them. Social experiments found that the interpretation of discriminatory situations placed in front of people were influenced and shaped by subjective factors like personal interests and the level of interactions with other social subgroups. Disadvantaged groups are led to assume an inevitable discriminatory treatment towards them when placed within a wide range of social situations. However, the lower rate of discriminatory events privileged groups are faced with leads them to attribute their self-perceptions with an acknowledgement that treatment infrequently ends in a negative way. The differences in self-perceptions surrounding the consistency of discrimination emerging from prejudices means that groups at a lower social position may be more psychologically affected. Scholars propose that the prejudice held towards members of a minority group causes significantly higher damage to their psychological health, in comparison to more privileged groups.