Scholarship and Activism Diverge: Responding to MLK's Call with Theory and Research on Diversity, Political Action, and Resistance to Oppression

Abstract

In this introduction to the special issue, we examine the rift between psychological scholarship on race and racism in the academy and the critical theories embraced by activists and other social sciences. While Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) called on psychologists to "tell it like it is" by illuminating the reality of oppression and racism in its many forms, very little work in the (ideological) psychological literatures has examined this diversity of oppression, including neoliberalism and capitalist structures and how incremental engagement with the political system may do little to actually improve oppressed people's lives. We argue that psychological scholarship and activism on race and racism have diverged. Whereas, activists and nonpsychological social scientists have embraced critical perspectives (e.g., intersectionality and critical race theory), psychologists have not, likely distracted by a move toward more internal and cognitive analyses of prejudice and bias. The articles in this special issue attempt to demonstrate new ways to answer MLK's call in the areas of diversity and leadership, the efficacy of political action, and resistance to oppression.

Forging Diversity‐Science‐Informed Guidelines for Research on Race and Racism in Psychological Science

“…Several scholars have noted individual ways in which researchers contribute to the generation of knowledge on issues surrounding race and racism, including the use of racially diverse samples (e.g., Richeson, 2018;Stewart & Sweetman, 2018) and examining the effects of racial diversity on individual and collective outcomes (e.g., Bell, Leopold, Berry, & Hall, 2018;Craig, Rucker, & Richeson, 2018;Plaut, Thomas, Hurd, & Romano, 2018;Richeson & Sommers, 2016). Each of these elements is important.…”

“…While specific methodologies and levels of analysis that are examined change over time, the goal of using psychological science to understand and address racial inequality has remained constant. Importantly, however, scholars continue to openly grapple with how psychology research examining race and racism can be most effectively conducted and used to inform social policy (Richeson, ; Stewart & Sweetman, ). Employing psychology to address current issues related to racism has gained ever‐increasing attention, as exemplified by the publication of recent special issues in Current Directions in Psychological Science (Engle, ), American Psychologist (Comas‐Díaz, Hall, Neville, & Kazak, ), and Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology (Lee, ), as well as the Race and Ethnicity Guidelines in Psychology, which were recently passed by the American Psychological Association Council of Representatives in August 2019.…”

When Similarities are More Important than Differences: “Politically Black” Union Members’ Experiences of Racism and Participation in Union Leadership

“…Because some of these articles were from business studies, law, and sociological journals indexed by PsychINFO, this tiny number of articles might actually overestimate the extant psychological literature on race and trade unions, never mind trade union leadership. For reasons that limitations on space preclude (Adams, Salter, Kurtiş, Naemi, & Estrada‐Villalta, ; but see Stewart & Sweetman, ), it seems psychologists, at least, have not answered this important part of King's call.…”

“I Have a Dream” of a Colorblind Nation? Examining the Relationship between Racial Colorblindness, System Justification, and Support for Policies that Redress Inequalities

“…The present research examines the relationship between colorblindness, an ideology sometimes mistakenly associated with Dr. Martin Luther King, and support for policies that redress inequalities between racial majority and minority groups in society. Heeding Dr. King's () call to the behavioral sciences to explore and address social inequalities (see Stewart & Sweetman, ), we demonstrate that colorblindness predicts decreased support for policies that promote both resource distribution and the symbolic incorporation of minority culture into the national identity as ways of redressing inequalities between racial majority and minority groups. Moreover, we show that system‐justifying beliefs mediate the negative relationship between colorblindness and support for both symbolic and resource‐based policies.…”

“…Fifty years after Dr. King's () call to the behavioral sciences to address inequalities and promote social justice (see Pettigrew, ; Stewart & Sweetman, ), we examine the implications of colorblindness for intergroup relations and political action in a racially diverse nation. To these ends, the current work reviews the extant psychological literature on colorblindness and its implications for racial and ethnic minorities.…”