White University Students' Responses to Societal Racism

Spanierman, Lisa B.; Oh, Euna; Poteat, V. Paul; Hund, Anita R.; McClair, Vetisha L.; Beer, Amanda M.; Clarke, Alexis

doi:10.1177/0011000006295589

Cited by 63 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…One promising framework for understanding race-related affect is the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites (see Goodman, 2001; Kivel, 2002; Spanierman & Heppner, 2004; Spanierman, Oh et al, 2008, Spanierman & Soble, 2009). In particular, as delineated by Spanierman and Heppner (2004), affective costs of racism to Whites include White guilt, White empathy (i.e., feelings of sadness and anger about the existence of societal racism), and irrational White fear of racial minorities.…”

Section: Costs Of Racism To White Students and Diversity Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

White students reflecting on whiteness: Understanding emotional responses.

Todd¹,

Spanierman²,

Aber³

2010

Journal of Diversity in Higher Education

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In the present investigation, the authors explored potential predictors of White students' general emotional responses after they reflected on their Whiteness in a semi-structured interview (n = 88) or written reflection (n = 187). Specifically, the authors examined how color-blindness (i.e., awareness of White privilege) and racial affect (i.e., White empathy, White guilt, and White fear), assessed before the interview or written reflection, may predict positive and negative emotional responses, assessed immediately following the interview or written reflection. Furthermore, the authors considered whether affective costs of racism to Whites moderated the association between racial color-blindness and general positive and negative emotional responses of White students. Findings indicated that affective costs of racism moderated associations between racial colorblindness and general emotional responses. Specifically, White fear moderated associations for the written reflection group whereas White empathy moderated an association in the interview. White guilt did not moderate, but instead directly predicted a negative emotional response in the written reflection group. Findings suggest that the interaction between racial color-blindness and racial affect is important when predicting students' emotional responses to reflecting on their Whiteness. Implications for educators and administrators are discussed.As many colleges and universities seek to extend racial diversity education, create inclusive campuses, and prepare students to be active participants in a multicultural democracy and pluralistic global economy, a critical element of this mission is to educate White students about their dominant status in society (Adams, Bell, & Griffin, 2007;Bohmer & Briggs, 1991;Johnson, 2006;Lawrence & Bunche, 1996;Marshall, 2002;Tatum, 1992). To facilitate this racial self-exploration among White students, educators encourage them to contemplate, write about, and discuss their Whiteness as they learn about pervasive societal inequities. Although university instruction often is conceptualized in terms of fostering content knowledge (i.e., intellectual understanding of a particular subject matter), topics that deal with racial issues in U.S. society are emotionally charged. Therefore, when teaching about race and racism, educators also must attend to students' emotional responses to the Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Nathan R. Todd, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 603 East Daniel MC-716, Champaign, IL 61820. nathanrtodd@gmail.com. Publisher's Disclaimer: The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any responsibility or liabilities for errors or omissions of this manuscript version, any version d...

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Section: Costs Of Racism To White Students and Diversity Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

White students reflecting on whiteness: Understanding emotional responses.

Todd¹,

Spanierman²,

Aber³

2010

Journal of Diversity in Higher Education

Self Cite

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“…While blacks make up approximately 13% of the U.S. population and therefore represent a large enough group to create the potential for large losses stemming from discriminatory acts, recent research by Spanierman and colleagues (Spanierman & Heppner, 2004;Spanierman et al, 2008;Spanierman, Todd, & Anderson, 2009) suggests that yet another party may be harmed by marketplace discrimination: the white majority. Clearly, viewing discrimination is not the same as being discriminated against, yet understanding the broader effect of discrimination beyond the impact on direct participants (e.g., blacks) merits understanding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

White response to potentially discriminatory actions in a services setting

Baker

Meyer

2011

Psychology & Marketing

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Discrimination in the marketplace is a significant problem for many blacks and for service providers. However, recent research suggests that some whites may respond similarly to blacks when they witness what they perceive to be a discriminatory act in a service encounter. Using an experimental design methodology, this research investigates the extent to which this occurs. The degree to which an observing customer values the other customer's welfare and feels empathy has been found to explain differences in service failure perceptions among white study participants. White participants high in empathy for blacks were found to react similarly to blacks relative to the inherent negativity of the service failure. This suggests that a service failure involving black customers that hints of discrimination has a greater overall impact on the long-term success of the service firm than originally envisioned.

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“…This methodology also enabled us to take into account but move beyond a static description of attitudes or identity and to build our theoretical conception of White dialectics from the ground up. Most scholarship on White students has relied on quantitative methods (Helms, 1990;Spanierman & Heppner, 2004), postpositivist qualitative methodology (e.g., Spanierman et al, 2008), or specifically on White counselor trainees (Ancis & Szymanski, 2001;Utsey et al, 2005); thus, our work provides a unique contribution to the Whiteness literature in method and in our articulation of general White dialectics that can inform intervention with White counselor trainees and their work with White students. Moreover, these White dialectics synthesize and integrate other Whiteness scholarship, weaving together models of identity with other tendencies of White students to minimize racism or deny the importance of race (Bonilla-Silva, 2003; Thompson & Neville, 1999).…”

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confidence: 98%

White Dialectics: A New Framework for Theory, Research, and Practice With White Students 1Ψ7

Todd

Abrams

2010

The Counseling Psychologist

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This article presents White dialectics, or the tensions that White students experience as dominant group members in the United States, as a new framework to understand and intervene with White students and counselor trainees. Developed from and supported by our qualitative analysis, the authors present the six dialectics of (a) Whiteness and self, (b) connection in multiracial relationships, (c) color blindness, (d) minimization of racism, (e) structural inequality, and (f) White privilege. They demonstrate that White students exhibited dialectical movement, shifting along these dialectics as they reflected on their race. Moreover, they identified their dialectical tensions as investigators that may parallel tensions experienced by those working with White students. They conclude by discussing White authenticity, or the continual struggle with the White dialectics as an educational goal, with suggestions for intervention. A focus on White dialectics holds promise for the field of counseling psychology and the multicultural education of White students and counselor trainees.

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White University Students' Responses to Societal Racism

Cited by 63 publications

References 33 publications

White students reflecting on whiteness: Understanding emotional responses.

White students reflecting on whiteness: Understanding emotional responses.

White response to potentially discriminatory actions in a services setting

White Dialectics: A New Framework for Theory, Research, and Practice With White Students 1Ψ7

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