But the reaction went beyond nostalgia. The leveling of long-standing social hierarchies generated a sense of unfairness among many whites. When one grows up with a certain guaranteed standing in society, the loss of that special status can feel like an injustice. Indeed, many white Americans began to feel like victims. Surveys showed that whites’ perception of “anti-white bias” rose steadily beginning in the 1960s; by the early twenty-first century, a majority of white Americans believed that discrimination against whites had become at least as big a problem as discrimination against Blacks.
Loss of privilege feels like oppression
