White Racial Socialization: Progressive Fathers on Raising “Antiracist” Children

Abstract

For the past 30 years, the definition of racial socialization has referred to how parents prepare children of color to flourish within a society structured by white supremacy. Drawing on ethnographic interviews with eight white affluent fathers, this study explores fathers' participation in white racial socialization processes. The article focuses on fathers who identify as “progressive” and examines the relationship between fathers' understandings of what it means to raise an “antiracist” child, the explicit and implicit lessons of racial socialization that follow from these understandings, and hegemonic whiteness. Findings illustrate how these fathers understand their role as a white father, how their attempts to raise antiracist children both challenge and reinforce hegemonic whiteness, and what role race and class privilege play in this process.

Gender, Feminist, and Intersectional Perspectives on Families: A Decade in Review

“…The work that links theory to practice considerations such as intervention and prevention typically uses historical information about the oppression experienced by participants to critique the dominant discourse about that type of gendered phenomenon. For example, Hagerman () interrogated hegemonic whiteness in relation to fatherhood, affluence, and whiteness. All of these authors incorporated core concepts from gender theory—and its intersections with other locations—in the discussion, challenging dominant discourses about gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, or socioeconomic class.…”

Surfacing Family Privilege and Supremacy in Family Science: Toward Justice for All

“…In addition to uncovering privilege in ourselves and in our theorizing and methodologies, family scientists should critically examine, document, and delineate the mechanisms families use to privilege and entitle their members and maintain their advantage in U.S. society (Marks, ). Emergent scholarship examining family affluence, White racial identity development, and White racial socialization is leading the way (Hagerman, , ; Haselschwerdt, & Hardesty, ; Helms, ). For example, in their foundational study of intimate partner violence in affluent communities, Haselschwerdt and Hardesty () documented the evocation of family privileges to keep secret the violence experienced in wealthy families.…”

“…For example, in their foundational study of intimate partner violence in affluent communities, Haselschwerdt and Hardesty () documented the evocation of family privileges to keep secret the violence experienced in wealthy families. Hagerman's (, ) recent studies of how wealthy, progressive fathers raise their children to be antiracist and her larger ethnography documenting how wealthy White children are socialized to be privileged in American society offer critical explorations of White racial socialization patterns and the maintenance of family privilege. Like Lareau's () study of unequal childhoods, Hagerman (2018) moved beyond family socialization processes to also examine the intersectional roles of institutions like schools systems in reinforcing and structuring family privilege and how neighborhood segregation by race and class is critical to family advantage.…”

White Supremacy and the Web of Family Science: Implications of the Missing Spider

“…It may be that, as a field, we begin with smaller, more clearly defined constructs that fall within an overarching White supremacy framework. Bartky () points to several measurable constructs in her writings, including but not limited to the possibility of measuring culpable ignorance in businesses, the academy, and organizations by empirically measuring the extent to which racist actions are labeled “nonracist.” Hagerman's (, , , ) research on White racial learning also measures the constructs and processes at play in a larger system of White supremacy that makes this learning plausible by never having to question it. Marks's () efforts to measure family privilege and entitlement has pointed to similar directions.…”

“…Of these articles, eight name the construct of White supremacy without defining it. In these cases, the term is used to describe a structuring element and social narrative of society and research (Acosta, 2018;Goldberg, Allen, Black, Frost, & Manley, 2018;Hagerman, 2017;Marks, 2000;Purcell, Oldham, Weiser, & Sharp, 2017;Rockquemore & Laszloffy, 2003;Sharp & Weaver, 2015;Spencer, Mallory, Toews, Stith, & Wood, 2017).…”