Buy Stove Top Stuffing Mix or Own a Cat? You’re Probably White, According to a New Study

Slate ^ | 07-12-2018 | Rachelle Hampton

[Trump20162020]

If you’ve managed to make it this far in life without quite figuring out what demographic boxes to tick on the Census form, a recent working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research might have some clues for you. According to the Washington Post, University of Chicago economists Marianne Bertrand and Emir Kamenica “taught machines to guess a person’s income, political ideology, race, education, and gender based on either their media habits, their consumer behavior, their social and political beliefs, and even how they spent their time.” The results are, at times, surprisingly granular and seemingly nonsensical: Owning a pet and a flashlight is a strong indicator of whiteness, as is a proclivity towards Vlasic pickles and Stove Top stuffing mix. Others are disappointing, like the fact that the attitude most indicative of whiteness is approval of police striking citizens.

[NoLibZone]

Don’t have current ID and have an arrest record, your probably black.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Rachelle is quite the racist. Proud of it, too.

[rdl6989]

Pass the stove top, please.

[glasseye]

Some citizens need striking.
Problem?

[ClearCase_guy]

homeownership, a privilege that has long been denied to people of color due to red-lining and historically discriminatory housing policies.

Give it a rest.

[webheart]

Rachel , you are ruining the language. You don’t either and, you either OR.

[Agatsu77]

What a pile of crap!

[glasseye]

Guess I should try ‘stove top’...

[aposiopetic]

University of Chicago economists Marianne Bertrand and Emir Kamenica “taught machines to guess a person’s income, political ideology, race, education, and gender based on either their media habits, their consumer behavior, their social and political beliefs, and even how they spent their time.”

Evidently grammar is no longer taught at the University of Chicago.

[rdl6989]

There’s enough salt in that stuff to cure a couple of hams.

[simpson96]

Slate thinks this is newsworthy/important, of course.

[PallMal]

Owning a pet and a flashlight is a strong indicator of whiteness

Wha... What????

[Steely Tom]

It's so OK to stereotype white people that they're using machines to do it.

It would be interesting to see what sorts of things could be used as "a strong indicator of blackness," but I'm pretty sure I can guess quite a few of those without the need of any computer software, and those results will never be published in Slate.

[rdl6989]

Yeah, I thought that was the goofiest thing I’ve seen in awhile.

[reg45]

I don’t like stuffing but Vlasic pickles are great!

[max americana]

Everything is racist.

[RightGeek]

Classify me - Red Neck, White Soxks, and Blue Ribbon Beer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3iVHxP8FQ

[leaning conservative]

Have a cat & make my own stuffing/ dressing.

[Snickering Hound]