Aversive Racism and Contemporary Bias

Abstract

In the United States, the 1960s and early 1970s were characterized by significant societal changes. The Civil Rights Movement and social, political, and moral forces stimulated these changes to address racism by White Americans toward Black Americans and achieve the nation's historical egalitarian ideals. With the Civil Rights legislation and other federal mandates, it was no longer simply immoral to discriminate against Blacks; it was now also illegal. Surveys and national polls revealed significant reductions in overt expressions of prejudice among Whites toward Blacks (Dovidio & Gartner, 2004). This unprecedented change in race relations in the United States changed the nature of racial attitudes, from blatant to subtle, and consequently the study of prejudice in psychology (Dovidio, 2001). In other countries, similar normative changes have reduced blatant expressions of prejudice while more subtle, yet equally pernicious, forms of bias persist (see Pettigrew & Meertens, 1995). This chapter reviews the development of theory about contemporary forms of racismfocusing primarily on aversive racismtracing the evolution of this perspective, describing key empirical evidence, and identifying productive avenues for future research. We begin by reviewing relations among different theories of subtle contemporary racism, including aversive racism, and then discuss work on implicit prejudice and its relationship to aversive racism. We then consider the implications of aversive racism for interventions to reduce bias and identify promising new directions for research on contemporary racism, in general, and aversive racism, in particular.

Bias awareness predicts color conscious racial socialization methods among White parents

“…Beyond bias awareness, prior intergroup relations research suggests that there are a number of additional individual difference factors that might explain significant variability in whether White parents discuss race with their children, and the approach that they choose to take during the discussions they do have. These factors include White individuals' attitudes toward racial minorities (Dovidio et al, 2017), the quality and quantity of contact that they have with racial minorities (Brown & Hewstone, 2005), their motivations to be nonprejudiced (Devine, Plant, Amodio, Harmon-Jones, & Vance, 2002;Plant & Devine, 1998), and their perceptions of and concerns about interacting with racial minorities (Plant & Devine, 2003;Stephan & Stephan, 1985;Trawalter & Richeson, 2008). Specifically, as factors associated with negative intergroup relations (e.g., interracial anxiety) increase, we expect that White parents will be less likely to discuss race with and acknowledge racism to their children, and more likely to deny or downplay racism.…”

Interventions to Reduce Blatant and Subtle Sexual Orientation‐ and Gender Identity Prejudice (SOGIP): Current Knowledge and Future Directions

“…Moreover, non‐LGBTQ people can be allies to LGBTQs when standing up against SOGIP expressed by others. The reluctance to offer this support can be seen as a form of subtle SOGIP (Fingerhut, ; Poteat, ; Poteat & Vecho, ; see also Dovidio et al., ).…”

Included but Invisible? Subtle Bias, Common Identity, and the Darker Side of “We”

“…Aversive racism is hypothesized to be qualitatively different than blatant, “old‐fashioned” racism. Aversive racists sympathize with victims of past injustice, support principles of racial equality, and genuinely regard themselves as nonprejudiced, but at the same time possess conflicting, often nonconscious, negative feelings and beliefs about Blacks, and which are rooted in basic psychological processes (e.g., social categorization) that promote racial bias (Dovidio & Gaertner, ; Dovidio, Gaertner, & Pearson, ; Gaertner & Dovidio, ; Pearson, Dovidio, & Gaertner, ). In addition, the negative feelings that aversive racists have toward Blacks do not reflect open hostility or hatred.…”