scholarly journals Systemic racism: individuals and interactions, institutions and society

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahzarin R. Banaji ◽  
Susan T. Fiske ◽  
Douglas S. Massey
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
Interracial Interactions ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Racial Isolation ◽  
Racial Biases ◽  
Domains Of Life ◽  
Interpersonal Patterns ◽  
The Mind

AbstractSystemic racism is a scientifically tractable phenomenon, urgent for cognitive scientists to address. This tutorial reviews the built-in systems that undermine life opportunities and outcomes by racial category, with a focus on challenges to Black Americans. From American colonial history, explicit practices and policies reinforced disadvantage across all domains of life, beginning with slavery, and continuing with vastly subordinated status. Racially segregated housing creates racial isolation, with disproportionate costs to Black Americans’ opportunities, networks, education, wealth, health, and legal treatment. These institutional and societal systems build-in individual bias and racialized interactions, resulting in systemic racism. Unconscious inferences, empirically established from perceptions onward, demonstrate non-Black Americans’ inbuilt associations: pairing Black Americans with negative valences, criminal stereotypes, and low status, including animal rather than human. Implicit racial biases (improving only slightly over time) imbed within non-Black individuals’ systems of racialized beliefs, judgments, and affect that predict racialized behavior. Interracial interactions likewise convey disrespect and distrust. These systematic individual and interpersonal patterns continue partly due to non-Black people’s inexperience with Black Americans and reliance on societal caricatures. Despite systemic challenges, Black Americans are more diverse now than ever, due to resilience (many succeeding against the odds), immigration (producing varied backgrounds), and intermarriage (increasing the multiracial proportion of the population). Intergroup contact can foreground Black diversity, resisting systemic racism, but White advantages persist in all economic, political, and social domains. Cognitive science has an opportunity: to include in its study of the mind the distortions of reality about individual humans and their social groups.

Americans Misperceive Racial Disparities in Economic Mobility

2021 ◽  
pp. 014616722110241
Author(s):  
Shai Davidai ◽  
Jesse Walker
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
American Dream ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Mobility ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Economic Disparities ◽  
Lay Beliefs ◽  
Socioeconomic System

What do people know about racial disparities in “The American Dream”? Across six studies ( N = 1,761), we find that American participants consistently underestimate the Black–White disparity in economic mobility, believing that poor Black Americans are significantly more likely to move up the economic ladder than they actually are. We find that misperceptions about economic mobility are common among both White and Black respondents, and that this undue optimism about the prospect of mobility for Black Americans results from a narrow focus on the progress toward equality that has already been made. Consequently, making economic racial disparities salient, or merely reflecting on the unique hardships that Black Americans face in the United States, calibrates beliefs about economic mobility. We discuss the importance of these findings for understanding lay beliefs about the socioeconomic system, the denial of systemic racism in society, and support for policies aimed at reducing racial economic disparities.

We stand in solidarity with you (if it helps our ingroup)

2022 ◽  
pp. 136843022110671
Author(s):  
Kimberly E. Chaney ◽  
Marley B. Forbes
Keyword(s):  
White Women ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
White Men ◽  
Women Studies ◽  
Lay Theory

Intraminority solidarity research has previously focused on how similarities in discrimination experiences can facilitate stigma-based solidarity. Yet, research on a lay theory of generalized prejudice has demonstrated that people tend to perceive attitudes towards stigmatized social groups as co-occurring. Integrating these lines of research, the present studies sought to examine if the extent to which prejudices are perceived to co-occur can facilitate stigma-based solidarity for marginalized social groups, and in turn promote interest in coalitional justice. Recruiting heterosexual Black Americans (Study 1), White women (Studies 2–3), and White men (Study 4), the present research demonstrates that perceiving prejudices as co-occurring increases stigma-based solidarity that in turn produces greater interest in coalitional justice efforts that include the ingroup. The present findings demonstrate the importance of focusing on beliefs about perpetrators’ attitudes when examining intraminority solidarity and highlight the limitations of a lay theory of generalized prejudice to fight prejudices broadly.

Ashantis in Warsaw: Notions of “Blackness” in Polish Society at the Turn of the 20th Century – A Preparatory Contribution to Polish Colonial History

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agata Łuksza
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
Polish Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 19Th Century

The author recognizes Włodzimierz Perzyński’s comedy Aszantka as a meaningful remnant of „blackness” in the history of Polish theatre, and therefore she uses it as a point of entrance into a broader inquiry about the entanglement of Polish society into European colonial project, and the ideas, values, and cultural practices it entailed. That is why in the article the author attempts to reconstruct possible concepts and images of “blackness” which Warsaw dwellers might have shared at the end of the 19th century by analysing the reception of the performances of alleged representatives of Ashanti people in the Warsaw circus in 1888. From “Ashanti” performances on, the popularity of this type of entertainment – so called ethnographic shows or human zoos – grew in the colonized capital of the Kingdom of Poland. The author points to “savageness” and “nakedness” as constitutive traits of “blackness” which she understands as a specific human condition, experienced both by overseas colonized societies as well as subaltern social groups (to which “Aszantka” from Perzyński’s comedy belonged) in European societies.

Examining Racism in Psychoanalytic Training: Perspectives from a Psychiatry Resident

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-486
Author(s):  
Nicole E. Pacheco
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatry Resident ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Racial Equality ◽  
Academic Institutions ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Psychoanalytic Training ◽  
Racial Biases ◽  
The Mind

The author reviews pervasive racial biases in psychoanalysis, spanning from overt instances of racial judgement to the normalized tendencies of internalized racist societal structures on individuals. A personalized account is given addressing how such issues have led to a hesitancy in the author— a Black and Hispanic psychiatry resident—to pursue psychoanalytic training. Institutes can more appropriately acknowledge how racism has affected their patients and the theories of the mind that are commonly promulgated. Academic institutions need to actively engage in creating awareness of racial bias, microaggressions, and uncovering unconscious negative attitudes. This will aid in the development of educational approaches that strive toward racial equality and inclusiveness.

Culture, history, and psychology: Some historical reflections and research directions

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brady Wagoner ◽  
Ignacio Brescó de Luna
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Method ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Historical Factors ◽  
Culture History ◽  
Cultural Processes ◽  
History Narratives ◽  
The Mind

Psychologists have typically narrated their discipline’s history so as to glorify an experimental method, which analyzes the mind independently of cultural and historical factors. In line with Jahoda’s sociocultural sensitivity to psychology, this article critically interrogates the plausibility for this vision of psychology as cut off from wider social processes, and offers an alternative based on a re-appropriation of concepts and methods from psychology’s past that highlight cultural processes. This approach is illustrated with a study of how people remember history narratives on the basis of cultural resources taken over from social groups they belong to, and which thus embed them within a stream of history. Both psychologists’ narratives of their discipline and people’s everyday memory of history are shown to be motivated toward the justification of particular visions of social reality.

scholarly journals Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics Symposium: Black Older Adults in the Era of Black Lives Matter

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 48-48
Author(s):  
Jessica Kelley ◽  
Roland Thorpe ◽  
Linda Chatters
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Black Adults ◽  
Systemic Racism

Abstract Our renewed urgency and engagement in a national dialogue on issues of systemic racism and racial justice provides a much-needed opportunity to expand the discourses, perspectives, and practices used in the study of aging. This symposium features contributions from the 2021 (Vol 41) Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics focusing on the continued development and maturation of scholarship on the lives of older Black Americans. Building on the scholarship and research contributions of prior generations of eminent African American gerontologists, the volume asks: “What do we know about the lived experience of Black older adults and what is there still to be learned?” The contributing authors continue a tradition of research that examines the life histories and contemporary experiences of older Black adults within their relevant social and personal contexts. Symposium presenters from a range of social science fields (sociology, psychology, social work), explore aspects of physical health, stress, cognition, and social well-being in the context of intersecting social dimensions of marriage, family, gender, and neighborhood.

Art and Race in the Time of Covid-19

Janus Head ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-38
Author(s):  
Lenore Metrick-Chen ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Asian Americans ◽  
Black People ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Main Issue ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Chinese People ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
The World ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Dominant Paradigm

Trump and his administration brought with them an inflammatory rhetoric that reduced complex issues into the simplified polarity of "us" and "them." With this as the dominant paradigm, racism was encouraged and spread like a virus throughout the nation, appearing in heightened jingoism against other nations, anger towards fellow citizens and violence towards neighbors. When the pandemic Covid-19 spread throughout the nation and the world, it became politicized, used by Trump as a novel corona vehicle help inflame intolerance. He repeatedly associated China and Chinese people with the virus to forward his political agenda regarding US trade with China and he used the resulting demonization of China as a foil for his complicity with Russian crimes. In response to increased and well-publicized acts of violence against Black Americans, systemic racism against Black people is finally being noticed. However, anti-Asian violence has largely been disregarded. This paper discusses both the increased violence against Asian Americans and the lack of attention to it. Dividing the paper into three sections, I correlate an artwork to the main issue in each section: the state-of-affairs provide a context in which to understand the artworks. Reciprocally, because artworks evoke an embodied understanding, involving our senses as well cognition, artworks change our relationship with issues from topical to personal. The artworks recontextualize what we thought we already knew and present possibilities for constructing the world differently.

A death in the family: a metaphor about race and police brutality

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 769-773
Author(s):  
Derek R. Avery ◽  
Enrica N. Ruggs
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Black People ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Traumatic Experiences ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Interracial Interactions ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
Common Understanding

PurposeThis essay was written in response to the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks by police in 2020 and the surge of social justice protests they helped to reignite.Design/methodology/approachThis essay uses a metaphor that nearly everyone can understand to help build common understanding around the unique impact of police killings of Black people on other Black people.FindingsThis essay uses social psychological theory and our experiences as Black Americans and diversity scholars to illustrate why interracial conversations about police killings of Black people may not proceed as intended.Originality/valueIn the wake of growing social justice protests aimed at combating systemic racism in the US, many individuals and organizations are wrestling with determining how people can talk about race. This is uncharted territory for many, as sociological research shows that racioethnic integration has stalled or even regressed in schools, workplaces and social networks in the US This essay seeks to help readers move toward a common understanding to facilitate more empathetic interracial interactions involving Black people in the aftermath of these traumatic experiences.

Shifting Stereotypes of Welfare Recipients Can Reverse Racial Biases in Support for Wealth Redistribution

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1065-1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Cooley ◽  
Jazmin L. Brown-Iannuzzi ◽  
Caroline Boudreau
Keyword(s):  
Shift Work ◽  
Work Ethic ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Government Assistance ◽  
Financial Independence ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Negative Work ◽  
Racial Biases ◽  
Wealth Redistribution

When people imagine welfare recipients, research indicates that they often imagine lazy, Black Americans who are perpetually dependent on government assistance. In the present work, we investigate the last assumption—perpetual dependence. We hypothesize that providing information about recipients’ ability to obtain financial independence may reduce racial biases in support for welfare policies. In Study 1, when given no information about recipients’ ability to obtain independence, White participants reported less support for the program and a greater desire to monitor recipient spending, when the majority of recipients were Black (vs. White). However, learning that most recipients gained independence (i.e., they obtained jobs and exited the program) eliminated or reversed these racial biases—an effect associated with reduced negative work ethic stereotypes of welfare recipients (Study 2). We conclude that perceived independence of welfare recipients may shift work ethic stereotypes and increase support for welfare policies, regardless of recipient race.

scholarly journals Who gets to vote? Racialized mental images of legitimate and illegitimate voters

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jazmin Lati Brown-Iannuzzi ◽  
Keith Payne ◽  
Erin Cooley ◽  
Will Cipolli
Keyword(s):  
Black Americans ◽  
Black Study ◽  
Mental Images ◽  
Racial Biases ◽  
Mind's Eye ◽  
Voter Id ◽  
Black Voters ◽  
Survey Approach

When people support voter ID laws, who do they imagine they are keeping out of the voting booth? In four studies using online samples of US residents, we found evidence that support for voter ID laws was associated with racialized mental images of voters. Participants who supported voter ID laws imagined those who should vote as looking more White than those who should not vote (Study 1). Both supporters and opponents of voter ID laws imagined those who lack valid ID as appearing Black (Study 2), suggesting both sides of the debate understand these laws disproportionately affect Black voters. Support for voter ID laws was associated with imagining illegal voters that were more representative of Black Americans (Study 3). We conceptually replicated these findings using a survey approach (Study 4). These findings suggest that racial biases in the mind’s eye are associated with support for voter ID laws.

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