Confronting Whiteness in Developmental Science: Disrupting the Intergenerational Transmission of White Racism

Abstract

This special section situates White racial socialization (WRS) in its rightful place-in the context of White supremacy. The first article offers a conceptual framework to guide research on White adolescents' racial identity development in this context. The second employs a critical ethnographic approach to explore White racial identity development among incarcerated White adolescents. Additional studies use qualitative, observational, and mixed methods to understand WRS practices in White families. The final article presents a conceptual model of digital WRS. Authors provide recommendations for future research, such as engaging in critical researcher self-reflexivity and focusing on content of racial socialization messages. Two commentaries highlight cross-cutting themes and urge developmental scientists to view this special section as a call to action.

White Parents' Racial Socialization During a Guided Discussion Predicts Declines in White Children's Pro-White Biases

“…In contrast, the literature on racial socialization in White US families is substantially underdeveloped and a nascent area of study, with over half of the extant research published since 2021 (Abaied, in press). In a recent review, Spanierman (2022) finds that the two most common approaches to racial socialization in White families include messages endorsing racial silence-wherein White parents completely avoid discussing race-and colorblind racial ideology (CBRI; Neville et al, 2000;. Many studies have found racial silence to be prevalent in samples of White parents (e.g., Cox et al, 2022;Ferguson et al, 2022;Underhill, 2018).…”

Dismantling systems of racism and oppression during adolescence: An agenda for anti‐racist research

“…Thus, whiteness does not refer simply to a person's skin color, but rather to a system that upholds white people and culture as superior to other groups (i.e., white supremacy) and grants privileges and power to white people (white privilege), while systematically disadvantaging and marginalizing other racial groups (i.e., racism). We devoted a special section in the four-part series to understanding whiteness in adolescence (Spanierman, 2022) in which the majority of the youth samples were white, because in order to decrease racism, it is essential to understand how whiteness is learned and how it operates in the lives of white adolescents. Dismantling racism requires research attention to the systems and processes that uphold and normalize it, which calls for examining whiteness (Seaton, 2022).…”

“…In the call for papers, we expressed hope that cutting‐edge research may advance efforts to dismantle institutional racism across systems. Now, 2 years later, the unprecedented four‐part special series has been published, including 54 papers and 12 commentaries that (a) interrogate systems of racism that impact Black youth (Witherspoon et al, 2022), (b) shed light on interlocking systems of oppression that impact Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) youth (Halgunseth et al, 2022), (c) examine the socialization of whiteness (Spanierman, 2022), and (d) document youth of color's resistance to racism and systems of oppression (Wray‐Lake et al, 2022). In developing this series, we reviewed 152 abstracts and completed multiple rounds of review for each published manuscript, with the help of over 100 reviewers.…”

“I Just Want to Be Me, Authentically”: Identity Shifting Among Racially and Ethnically Diverse Young Adults

“…Racism poses a significant challenge to positive identity development among people of color in the United States who experience discrimination at the individual, interpersonal, community, and societal level due to their race and ethnicity 1 (Gee et al, 2012 ). In the United States, white supremacy and assumptions of white normativity serve as a developmental and social context that often require people of color to shift towards whiteness 2 (Moffitt & Rogers, 2022 ; Spanierman, 2022 ). In such a context, it is common and, in some cases, necessary for individuals from racially and ethnically minoritized groups to shift or modify their identities to survive, adapt, cultivate a sense of belonging, and meet the demands and expectations of their social environment.…”