Theory and research in cultural psychology highlight the need to examine racism not only "in the head" but also "in the world." Racism is often defined as individual prejudice, but racism is also systemic, existing in the advantages and disadvantages imprinted in cultural artifacts, ideological discourse, and institutional realities that work together with individual biases. In this review, we highlight examples of historically derived ideas and cultural patterns that maintain present-day racial inequalities. We discuss three key insights on the psychology of racism derived from utilizing a cultural-psychology framework. First, one can find racism embedded in our everyday worlds. Second, through our preferences and selections, we maintain racialized contexts in everyday action. Third, we inhabit cultural worlds that, in turn, promote racialized ways of seeing, being in, and acting in the world. This perspective directs attempts at intervention away from individual tendencies and instead focuses on changing the structures of mind in context that reflect and reproduce racial domination.
In his 1944 article, Prospect of a World Without Racial Conflict, W.E.B. DuBois hypothesized that we would never live in a world without racial division. With this in mind, we highlight how neoliberal ideologies promote policy, actions, and an idea of peace that upholds racial inequality in the United States. We consider how neoliberal tenets, such as free market trust and individual responsibility, reflect and promote misperceptions of racial conflict and impact colorblind perceptions of peace and justice. These perceptions promote definitions of conflict as physical violence versus systemic violence, ignore racial equality as a path to peace in favor of harmonious interaction, and highlight individuals as responsible for racial conflict as opposed to the system. In response, we argue for counter-definitions of peace that explicitly acknowledge systemic violence and prioritize justice within the racial conflict context.In his 1944 article, Prospect of a World Without Racial Conflict, W.E.B. Du Bois expressed his belief that we would never live in a world without racial division. He argued that after World War II, racial conflict would persist because victorious nations would move to institute democracy and promote peace, but neglect discussions of race and how these classifications dictate social standing within a hierarchical system of oppression. Contemporary detractors might argue that Du Bois's pessimism was unfounded, suggesting that racial minorities face fewer physical threats than they had in the past. They might suggest that crimes, such as lynching, have dramatically decreased since the years of Reconstruction and the beatings, firehoses, and dogs unleashed on Black protestors during the Civil Rights movement are actions relegated to the past. They might point to the
This chapter examines the cultural psychological processes that contribute to the delegitimization of Black victimhood in the United States. Drawing on a critical race psychology perspective that focuses on societal processes through which racism is maintained and reproduced, the authors examine the precariousness of claims of Black victimhood in the United States. The same mechanisms that maintain racist structures also delegitimize and deny Black victimhood. These processes include individualism and color-blind ideologies, victim blaming, the misrepresentation and dehumanization of Black victims, the assumption of White innocence and Whites’ moral disengagement from responsibility for racism, and claims of victimhood among Whites, especially in response to perceived threats of gains among minority groups. Thus, collective victimhood becomes precarious for Black Americans in that it is used as a tool of further oppression by others, instead of a source of support from third parties. The “benefits” of collective victimhood are not afforded to all groups.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.