What Do Childrens Experiences of Race Tell Us About the Social Psychology of Racism - Coursework Example

What Do Children’s Experiences of ‘Race’ Tell Us About the Social Psychology of Racism? Discuss With Reference to Empirical Research on ‘Race’ and Multiculture Student’s Name Course Instructor’s Name Date Racism is a set of negative beliefs, attitude, or behaviors that are founded on physical attributes or ethnic associations. It supposes an innate superiority or inferiority based on perceived group characteristics. It can take place on individual, internal, or institutional levels, and it can be either overt or covert (Jones, 2000).  The concept of race is characterized by lack of coherence and by constant transformation. The validity of the term has been topic to arguments in the academic world and society in general both in the past and the present. According to Miles (1993) the idea of race is created in the process of meaning in demonstration of the ‘other’ in social discourse. Through the process of identifying certain biological human characteristics, the population of the world started being classified into separate groups. Miles refers to this process as racialisation and defines it as one which characterizes meanings “to particular biological features of human beings, as a result of which individuals may be assigned to or categorized into a general collectivity of persons reproducing itself biologically” (Miles, 1989). Research on children’s racialised thinking conventionally used numerous theoretical and interpretive paradigms that intended to explain the development of racial attitudes. Some of these models connected children’s racist beliefs to personality troubles and gave details of the appearance of prejudiced attitudes in relation to rigid cognition credited to strict parenting style (Adorno, 1950). Some recent researches put forward that children play a dynamic role in their own learning and expand knowledge through social interaction. Furthermore, children also have a certain amount of ability that permits them to understand process and express their needs and knowledge (Connolly, 1996). Thus children are not merely seen as submissive receivers of racist beliefs, but as vigorous agents who struggle to deal with conflicting information they obtain in relation to the racial ‘other’ so as to make sense of the social world around them. Because of this, they do not just imitate racist viewpoints to which they are exposed, but actively strive with their contingent and often opposing nature, while trying to make sense of their social world (Connolly, 1998b). Children establish their racialised notions of diversity and social relations within the specific framework of their daily experiences and that these experiences are socially planned, determined by social events that expand further than the scope of daily experience (Rizvi, 1993a). In other words, children’s racialised thinking grows within the difficult system of information and behaviors, which are shaped and preserved within racist beliefs in a society. Katz (1982) claims that learning about distinctions among people entails related ideologies as any other classifying process. It is founded on the process of categorization where certain cues are chosen to distinguish one group of objects from the others. Children carry out their classification skills while learning about the world and relate them not only to lifeless objects but also to human beings. Their early categorizing efforts are based on cues, which are easily observable. As children’s early cognitive learning entails color recognition and the use of color as a categorization tool, Katz claims that it is not shocking that children often use skin color cues as source for categorizing individuals at an early age. The surprising aspect is that children display different evaluative reactions to different skin color (Katz, 1982). There are various studies illustrating this fact, for example, that white children establish a pro-white partiality from am early age (Aboud, 1988). Some studies also reveal that black pre-school children show a similar inclination (Aboud, 1988). Knowledge of racism as an aspect of the social world thus signifies a potentially vital development in children’s lives. When children become aware that others might possess racial stereotypes, prejudices, or discriminatory feelings, their perspectives may be distorted (Hirschfeld, 1995). Furthermore, children’s perspectives regarding racism might influence on processing social information, accumulate and retrieve memories of social occurrences, and what their actions are in reaction to interracial experiences. First, and not surprisingly, children differ considerably in regards of how complicated and distinguished their concepts about racism are. Second, children associate stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination with racism (McKown, 2004). The social representations theory is an important instrument for the study of racism, specifically because it deals with the dialectic between representation and identity, and so centers on possibilities for action, resistance, social transformation (Howarth, 2006). Social representations and social identities can be viewed as two dimensions of the same thing. In placing oneself in relation to others, that is in declaring, acting or doing identity, one discloses his/her perception to the world, one’s way of looking and creating the world, that is, one’s social representations. And just as identities bind individuals to particular communities of others and at the same time highlight what is individual and unique about a person: representations bear traces of individual’s collective pasts and common actions and concurrently reveal the possibilities of resistance and action (Howarth, 2007). The relationship between social representations and social identities becomes more difficult, more loaded and sometimes more harmful in relationships and perspectives that are racialised. Awareness of race and its influence on social identities in communities, bodies, practices may harm identities, lower self-esteem and restrict the possibilities of agency, community and humanity. Thus, the theory proposes the study of racism a clear focus on the social dynamics of re-presenting of race that is the mutual, social and psychological reconstruction, cooperation and contestation of representations and practices that race (Howarth, 2009). social psychologists have provided alternative and more complex explanations for perception of racial differences in children. Experimental stereotype threat research conducted by Claude Steele (1997) is of particular significance. It is founded on the empirical findings that the danger of being labeled negatively in children causes loss in performance in relation with that stereotype. A negative stereotype is menacing when it offers an explanation for one’s behaviors or events in life, or come into line with one’s self-definition. For example, when a test was presented to evaluate the intellectual aptitude, black children underperformed as compared to white children. On the other hand, when the same test was given to evaluate the problem solving not related to intellectual aptitude and therefore not related to stereotypes about black intellectual aptitude, then both the groups of children attained the same level of performance. Prejudice and racism are about actual control, they are not merely something that is in peoples heads. Social issues like prejudice are multifaceted and function at many levels. Individuals have to distinguish, understand, and value differentiation in these actual factors in order to take action against them (Hook, 2008). Any distinction could be used to make differences between groups. But research suggests that individuals are inclined to highlight those aspects of stereotypes that relate to their most personal values. It seems that one purpose of stereotypes, or prejudice, is to facilitate one feel good about him/her and their group by highlighting comparisons with other groups on factors that are most imperative to an individual’s personal and group identity. There are numerous methods that individuals use to help feel superior about themselves and their group. The illusory correlation paradigm is one such model of how an individual’s thinking can influence his/her actions (Jones, 2000). The illusory correlation explains the inclination to think that two objects are extremely correlated (or connected) than they in reality are. This fantasy is founded on the individual’s predisposition to become aware of things more when they are uncommon or occasional. In contrast, individuals become familiarized to take for granted things that are common and frequent. Racism is based on prejudice towards certain racial groups. But racism goes further than simple prejudice. What makes racism so influential and destructive is that the negative prejudice is the foundation for discrimination against racial groups. Researches carried out by Clark and Clark (1940) showed that a considerable number of non-white children had in some manner internalized white racist beliefs. It was suggested that the concept of most of the black children wrongly recognizing a white doll as appearing most similar to them was a sign of their internalization of white society’s lack of worth for them. The even greater number who in fact wanted to be white was taken as either confirmation of the same or a mere acceptance of their usually low position in the socio-economic order. Simons et al. (2002) established that African American children have considerable direct contact with racism. Thus, the understandings linked with being African American might result African American children to have more clear thoughts about the character of racism, and to distinguish more distinct aspects of racism. The theories of prejudice can assist in explaining as to why a child becomes prejudiced against certain groups and individuals. The social reflection theory of prejudice suggests that prejudice merely reflects the differential values connected to different groups in a socially divided society. This indicates that the knowledge of stratification must come first with the development of attitudes and stereotypes. Children take on attitudes parallel to the social structure as perceived by their parents and significant others. Children learn to assess groups the way their parents do, either by direct guidance or by watching or copying their parents’ verbal and nonverbal behavior. Another aspect of the theory as suggested by Allport (1954) is that young children are generally unprejudiced. It is a continuous process that begins with child’s association with his/her parents and the wish to please them. Once the label generalizes to all group members, that is, once the child is able to classify, prejudice becomes generalized and constant. This theory explains why certain ethnic groups are more discriminated than others, that it, it clarifies the selection of certain objects of prejudice. Thus, the theory offers a testable account as to why all groups other than one’s own are not disliked uniformly (Frances, 1988). The social-cognitive developmental theory of prejudice states that qualitatively different types of prejudice at different ages are due to the transformation in the cognitive make-up. Thus, prejudice may be considered as expected but not essentially permanent because it is founded on expected aspects of a young child’s way of thinking which ultimately vanishes. Even though, cognitive limitations establish the organization of attitudes, regular contribution from the environment influences the content, that is, about which ethnic group one has an attitude. However, even at the level of content, the theory claims that the child’s cognitive limitations filter and twist environmental input. As a result, the child does not correctly take in or comprehend everything he/she listens to or observes. According to Piaget (1985) a significant modification in prejudice occurs around the age of 7 when the child progresses from preoperational to concrete operational ways of thinking. Another aspect of the social-cognitive developmental theory indicates the progression of ethnic attitudes in regards two overlapping sequences of development. One sequence entails the method that controls a child’s experience: from emotional states to perceptions and finally to cognitions. The second sequence entails the focus of one’s attention: from self to groups and finally to individuals. The major suggestion of a sequence of step is that at any certain age the child’s way of connecting to ethnic groups will be decided by his/her current level, that is by the process and focus of attention that controls at that time. Furthermore, the child will be greatly impacted by the information that fits his/her existing level. The second step is a great deal like Piaget’s sociocentric stage in which children at first overstate the differences in order simplify understanding of the groups, and this might result in overstating their attitudes into a pro-anti dichotomy (Frances, 1988). A newer phenomenon regarding racism is the emergence on multiculturalism. The subject of multiculturalism has given rise to significant discussion in many areas of life. It has materialized as a concept which permitted for the acknowledgment of ethnic diversity around the world. Multiculturalism has offered a structure within which ethnic diversity that facilitates the acceptance of ethnically diverse individuals by other individuals and groups; and respect for diverse cultures encouraged among individuals. In multiculturalism, diversity is considered desirable and essential for the growth of protected ethnic identities and constructive intergroup relations, but is also challenged for being unfair and a danger to social cohesion.  References Aboud, F. E. (1988). Children and prejudice. New York: Basil Blackwill Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswick, E., Levinson, D. J. & Stenford, R. N. (1950). The authoritarian personality. New York: Harper and Row Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Clark, K.. & Clark, M. (1940). Skin color as a factor in racial identification of Negro pre-school children: a preliminary report. Journal of Experimental Education, 8, 161-163 Connolly, P. (1996). Seen but never heard: rethinking approaches to researching racism and young children. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 17 (2), 171-185 Connolly, P. (1998b). Racism, gender identities and young children. London: Routledge Frances, A. (1988). Chapter 2 - Theories of Prejudice. In Frances, A. Children and Prejudice, pp.17-27, Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell Hirschfeld, L. A. (1995). Do children have a theory of race? Cognition, 54(2), 19-252 Hook, D. (2008). The ‘real’ of racializing embodiment. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 18, 140–152 Howarth, C. (2006). Race as stigma: Positioning the stigmatized as agents, not objects. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 16, 442–451. Howarth, C. (2007). It’s not their fault that they have that color skin, is it?” Racialisation, Representation and Resistance at School. Howarth, C. (2009). ‘I hope we won’t have to understand racism one day’: Researching or reproducing ‘race’ in social psychological research? British Journal of Social Psychology, 48, 407–426 Jones, C. P. (2000). Levels of racism: A theoretic framework and a gardeners tale. American Journal of Public Health, 90, 1212-1215. Retrieved March 14, 2010, from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ Perceived+racism+and+discrimination+in+children +and+youths:+an...-a0219578825 Katz, P. A. (1982). Development of children’s racial awareness and intergroup attitudes. Current Topics in Early Childhood Education, 4, 17-54 McKown, C. (2004). Age and ethnic variation in children’s thinking about the nature of racism. Applied Developmental Psychology 25, 597–617 Miles, R. (1989). Racism. London: Routledge Miles, R. (1993). Racism after race relations. London: Routledge Piaget, J. (1985). The equilibration of cognitive structures. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Rizvi, F. (1993a). Children and the grammar of popular racism. In C. McCarthy & W. Crichlow (Eds.) Race, identity and representation in education. (pp. 126-139). London: Routledge Simons, R. L., Murry, V., McCloyd, V., Lin, K. H., Cutrona, C., & Conger, R. D. (2002). Discrimination, crime, ethnic identity, and parenting as correlates of depressive symptoms among African American children: A multilevel analysis. Development and Psychopathology, 14, 371–393. Steele, C, M. (1997). A threat in the air: how stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist, 52(6), 613–629 Read More