Download Cultural Diversity: A Primer for the Human Services

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By Jerry V. Diller
Chapter 4
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Understanding Racism,
Prejudice, and White
Privilege
Defining and
Contextualizing Racism
Racism: Subordination of racial groups who
have little power by members of a racial
group with more social power
 Prejudice and racism are different

Prejudice is an antipathy, or negative feelings that
are held by a person or group about another
group
 Racism includes power differentials


It is the racial attitudes and behaviors of majority group
members against minority group members
Defining and
Contextualizing Racism

Racism is a social phenomenon reinforced at
all levels of society. It has three levels:
Individual racism: Beliefs an individual holds
that support or perpetuate racism
 Institutional racism: Societal institutions that are
manipulated to favor whites and restrict people
of color
 Cultural racism: The belief that one culture’s
way of doing things is superior to another’s

Defining and
Contextualizing Racism
People commonly deny, rationalize, and
avoid the discussion of race and ethnicity
because of the pain and anger involved
 When these feelings become overwhelming,
people put up barriers to the emotions
associated with race and ethnicity


Emotional blocking may take the form of
minimizing, justifying, or rationalizing the stories
of people of color
Individual
Racism and Prejudice

Individuals develop and retain racial
prejudices because of simple human traits
and tendencies:
People feel comfortable with those who are like
them and suspicious of those who are different
 People have a tendency to categorize, generalize,
and oversimplify

Individual
Racism and Prejudice

Individuals develop and retain racial
prejudices because of simple human traits
and tendencies:
People develop beliefs that support their values
and avoid those that challenge them
 People have a tendency to scapegoat people who
are vulnerable, and to rationalize their behaviors

Traits Supporting
Racism and Prejudice

“In-group” and “out-group” behavior
Sticking with one’s own kind, and separating
from those who are different
 Limits communication and increases
misunderstanding

Traits Supporting
Racism and Prejudice

Categorical thinking
The natural organization of perceptions and
experiences into cognitive categories applied to
people and groups of people
 Can be emotionally-charged, complex or simple,
and can dictate behavior toward others

Traits Supporting
Racism and Prejudice

Stereotypes
The simplistic judgment of traits and habits as
applying to all members of a group
 Used to provide justification for exploitation or
mistreatment


People have a tendency to avoid or reframe
as exceptions any challenges to held
stereotypes or categorical thinking
Psychological
Theories Of Prejudice

Frustration-aggression-displacement
hypothesis
People accumulate frustration, which creates
aggression/hostility, which may be displaced
onto an accessible and vulnerable target
 Displacement may be a function of projection

Psychological
Theories Of Prejudice

Authoritarian personality type
Prejudice stems from a specific personality type,
rooted in personal insecurity and fear of
difference
 Type is characterized by dichotomous thinking,
and moralistic, nationalistic, and authoritarian
thinking

Psychological
Theories Of Prejudice

Rankism (Fuller, 2003)
Abuse and discrimination are rooted in power
differences within ranks and hierarchies
 Discrimination is used as a method securing or
improving one’s own situation

Psychological
Theories Of Prejudice

Other theories attribute prejudice to:
The promotion of economic and political
objectives and ensuring justifications
 The desire to elevate one’s own self-esteem by
regarding others as inferior
 Compliance with social norms and traditions
 Perceived differences in belief systems

Microaggressions
And Implicit Bias

Racial microaggressions
Daily indignities and slights that communicate
hostility and racism
 Commonly insidious rather than overt
 Often are “hard-wired” and held unconsciously


Implicit bias
Racial biases that are held subconsciously and
which are indicated in social neurology
 Amygdala reacts to faces of out-group members

Implications For Providers
Individual racism is a common source or
contributor to the problems of culturally
diverse clients
 Clients may suffer from issues related to
direct experiences or indirect consequences
of racism
 Providers must be aware of prejudices to
avoid misguiding clients and to ensure
seeing the client as an individual

Institutional Racism

Institutions: Societal networks that control
the allocation of resources to individuals or
groups
Includes the media, police, courts/jails, banks,
schools, employers, healthcare, religious
institutions, and government
 Institutions have racism embedded in their
bylaws, practices, and organizational culture


An effect of which is the ability of individuals to
disavow personal responsibility
Determining
Institutional Racism

The reports of the victims themselves are
often rejected by those who have a desire to
ignore racism
Determining
Institutional Racism

Institutional racism can be objectively
realized by comparing the frequency of a
phenomenon within a group to the
frequency of the phenomenon within the
general population

While certain cultural aspects may predispose a
group to certain characteristics, stereotypes are
often utilized to attribute the frequency of a
phenomenon to characteristics of a group instead
of institutional practices
Consciousness,
Intent, and Denial

Consciousness


Intent


People in a system may or may not be aware of
the existence and impact of practices
Practices may or may not have been purposely
created (e.g., de jure and de facto segregation)
Consciousness and intent do not justify the
effects and consequences of institutional
racism
Consciousness,
Intent, and Denial

Denial frequently coincides with
institutional racism because:
Practices may precede individual tenure and the
ability to challenge practices may be outside of
one’s status or power
 People feel powerless in large organizations
 Institutions are naturally conservative and
inclined to maintain status quo
 Racist practices are often multiple, mutually
reinforcing, and complicated

Implications For Providers
When clients cannot receive culturally
competent services, providers’ work is
drastically compromised
 Client perceptions of the agency as a whole
has an affect on the relationship between the
client and the provider
 If an agency has institutionally racist
practices, clients will perceive providers as
being responsible for such practices

Cultural Racism

Institutional racism keeps people of color
from accessing society’s institutions

Cultural racism makes them uncomfortable if
they do gain entry
Institutions have own cultures, which
individuals are expected to adopt
 Established norms are generally based on
dominant culture


Behaviors outside norms judged as bad or wrong
Cultural Racism

Cultural racism is evident in:
Holidays and celebrations
 Personal traits
 Language
 Standards of dress
 Standards of beauty
 Cultural icons

Implications For Providers
Providers should be aware of cultural values
they bring to the counseling session
 Clients may act out frustration of the
systemic negation of their cultural ways
against a White service provider
 Goals set in treatment and helping methods
must make sense to the patient


Views of healing and the helping process differ
between cultures
White Privilege

White privilege: Set of benefits
automatically provided to European
Americans on the basis of skin color
Core component of daily White experience
 Often not acknowledged or denied in order to
avoid guilt or the relinquishing of privilege
 May be invisible to European Americans, but is
very visible to people of color

Typical Experiences
Of Privileged Whites

Examples (McIntosh, 1989) include:
Never being asked to speak for all the members
of one’s racial group
 Turning on the television or consuming other
media and seeing people of one’s own race
widely represented
 Taking a job with an affirmative action employer
without having co-workers suspect the position
was given based on one’s race

White Racial
Attitude Types

Unachieved attitudes

Those which are not thought through, or which
lack commitment to any position



Avoidant: Ignore, minimize, or deny role of race in
relation to their own identity and that of non-Whites
Dependent: Hold some position they have adopted
from a significant other
Dissonant: Uncertain about their beliefs and open to
new information
White Racial
Attitude Types

Achieved attitudes

Those which have been explored, committed to,
and integrated into one’s belief system




Dominative: Believe the majority group should
dominate
Conflictive: Oppose efforts to rectify effects of
discrimination, but don’t support racism outright
Integrative: Understand their White identity and favor
interracial contact and harmony
Reactive: Feel guilty for White identity and militantly
oppose racism
White Racial Identity
Development Model

Helm’s (1995) developmental process by
which Whites can recognize and abandon
their privilege

Consists of six statuses:


Contact status: Internalization of majority culture’s view
of people of color, and the advantages of being White
Disintegration status: Anxiety associated with
unresolved racial or moral issues that force one to
choose between own-group loyalty and humanism;
awareness that race matters and guilt about White
privilege
White Racial Identity
Development Model

Helm’s (1995) developmental process by
which Whites can recognize and abandon
their privilege

Consists of six statuses:


Reintegration status: Idealization of one’s racial group
and a concurrent rejection of other racial groups as an
attempt to deal with discomfort
Pseudoindependence status: Development of
intellectual acceptance of racial differences and a
deceptive tolerance of other groups not yet integrated
emotionally
White Racial Identity
Development Model

Helm’s (1995) developmental process by
which Whites can recognize and abandon
their privilege

Consists of six statuses:


Immersion/emersion status: Redefining one’s
Whiteness, understanding White privilege, and
searching for a personal understanding of racism; often
prompted by personal rejection by People of Color
Autonomy status: Coming to peace with one’s own
Whiteness and developing a positive socioracial-group
commitment
Identity Development
In The Classroom

Ponterotto’s (1988) model of racial identity
and consciousness development of Whites in
a multicultural learning environment
consists of four stages:
Pre-exposure: Student has given little thought to
multicultural issues
 Exposure: Students are frequently confronted
with minorities and the realities of racism,
stimulating anger and guilt

Identity Development
In The Classroom

Ponterotto’s (1988) model of racial identity
and consciousness development of Whites in
a multicultural learning environment
consists of four stages:
Zealot-defensive: Reactions to the exposure stage
come in the form of over-identification with
minorities or distancing themselves from issues
 Integration: Extremes of previous stage decrease
in intensity resulting in interest, respect, and
appreciation for role differences

Becoming a Cultural Ally

Whites can become cultural allies by playing
a role in challenging oppression and creating
alternatives

Cultural allies are characterized by (Thompson,
2005:





Awareness of white privilege
Willingness to take risks and to take a stand
A belief in the potential of minority groups
Knowledge about cultivating support from other allies
Honesty, humility in their expertise about other groups
Doing the White Thing

White training
The way people are taught to be White
 Includes seeking privilege and developing a
perception of the “other”


Becoming White

Felt insecurity in racially mixed groups,
immobility from shame in the face of racism, a
loss of connection to spiritual or cultural roots
and becoming a “culture vulture”
Doing the White Thing

“UNtraining”

Groups of White people who get together to
discuss Whiteness and White racial training
Doing the White Thing

A fallacy exists for many White people that
there are two types of people: racists and
non-racists


In truth, all people have racial conditioning, and
a denial of this fact is counterproductive
Colorblindness is a way of denying
accountability and ignoring racism

It is more productive to practice building
alliances and making inquiries