What's Whiteness Got to do With it?

Abstract

Racism is as ubiquitous as the air we breathe and the water we drink. This special section highlights burgeoning research examining White youth’s development in a racist society. This research is urgent given the current political context in the United States. Although promising, developmental science needs to catch up with the groundbreaking research being conducted on Whiteness in other disciplines. Developmental science requires a conceptual reset with the utilization of theories that center racism in youth development acknowledging the privileged status of Whiteness. Developmental science should acknowledge that racism is a universal influence for all youth’s development, including White youth.

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

“…Although beyond the scope of the current study and limited by the data, there were several instances in which participants responses appeared to conflate race, class, and space (e.g., education and work were viewed as primarily white and affluent spaces). Future research should further examine how these ideals are perpetuated and adopted, and how culturally diverse individuals make meaning of these concepts and spaces (e.g., Cooper et al, 2022 ; Seaton, 2022 ). While this study focused on the experiences of individuals and offers unique insights into the diverse ways individuals navigate their social environment, future research should also explore contexts and structures that may prompt individuals and groups to engage in identity shifting.…”

"I don't think there is much racism left": A critical analysis of White adolescents' (un)awareness of white privilege.

“…Such patterns demonstrate how whiteness works—its ability to shield itself from critique by presenting itself as the “norm” and “invisible” to white people. Moreover, when individual white attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are isolated from the structure of white supremacy, racial identity appears unimportant and irrelevant to white youth, which further justifies its absence in the literature (e.g., Moffitt & Rogers, 2022; Seaton, 2022).…”

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

“…Rather than leaving the development of White racial justice allies to chance, developmental researchers could document family, peer, school, and neighborhood factors over time that contribute to developing racial justice attitudes and behaviors that persist into adulthood. As Seaton (2022) urged in her comments in this special issue, “Developmental scientists urgently need to illuminate the trajectories of White youth who grow up in a racist society that privileges their Whiteness” (pp. 7–8).…”