COVID-19 as Natural Intervention: Guilt and Perceived Historical Privilege Contributes to Structural Reform Under Conditions of Crisis

Fourie, Melike M.; Verwoerd, Wilhelm

doi:10.1007/s42761-021-00073-7

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Perceived anti-White interpersonal and structural racism were less elevated than in Study 1, however. This latter finding might reflect the younger age of the present student sample, as age has also previously been associated with more progressive outcomes in the South African context ( Fourie and Verwoerd, 2022 ). Nevertheless, participants reported significantly greater perceptions of anti-White than anti-Black structural racism today, which suggests that competitive victimhood was also present in this younger sample.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

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We cannot empathize with what we do not recognize: Perceptions of structural versus interpersonal racism in South Africa

Fourie

Moore‐Berg²

2022

Front. Psychol.

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Recent research suggests holding a structural, rather than interpersonal, understanding of racism is associated with greater impetus to address racial disparities. We believe greater acknowledgment of structural racism also functions to mitigate against empathic failures in response to structural injustices. Given South Africa’s situatedness as a country characterized by historical racialized oppression and continuing unjust legacies, it is appropriate to examine these ideas there. Across three studies, we tested the hypotheses that members of advantaged groups’ perspective taking and empathic concern may be compromised in response to people challenging the unequal status quo, and that a priori perceptions about the impact of structural (vs interpersonal) racism may mitigate or exacerbate such empathic failures. In Study 1, a national sample of White South Africans (n = 195) endorsed perceptions of interpersonal racism more readily than perceptions of structural racism, and expressed high levels of competitive victimhood for perceived anti-White structural racism. Studies 2 (n = 138) and 3 (n = 85) showed that White participants at a historically White university responded with impaired perspective taking and intergroup empathy bias in response to people challenging structural disparities. Finally, reduced recognition of continuing structural racism predicted greater intergroup empathy bias, which, in turn, was associated with reduced willingness to engage in intergroup discussions about past harm (Study 3). We propose that greater acknowledgment of structural racism is necessary not only to surmount intergroup empathic failures, but also to transcend the socioeconomically unequal legacies of apartheid and beyond.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…*** p < 0.001. Panel (A) is reprinted by permission from Springer Customer Service Centre GmbH: Springer Nature, Affective Science ( Fourie and Verwoerd, 2022 ). ns = not significant.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

We cannot empathize with what we do not recognize: Perceptions of structural versus interpersonal racism in South Africa

Fourie

Moore‐Berg²

2022

Front. Psychol.

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“…Considering that only 7% of the South African population between 25 and 34 years old has a tertiary education [ 102 ], university students are considered a super elite demographic that typically enjoys a more privileged lifestyle compared to most South Africans. Young and educated White South Africans have also been associated with more progressive racial perceptions and motivations [ 67 ], so that the racial empathy biases we observed might be more substantial in the general population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hughes and colleagues [ 65 ], for example, found that European American children expressed less racial bias after learning about historical racism experienced by African Americans. Indeed, various studies show that acknowledging the impact of historical suffering on continuing racialized inequality fosters support for social change and transformational redress [ 25 , 66 , 67 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

(Not) part of the team: Racial empathy bias in a South African minimal group study

Deist

Fourie

2023

PLoS ONE

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Minimal Group Paradigm (MGP) research suggests that recategorization with an arbitrarily defined group may be sufficient to override empathy biases among salient social categories like race. However, most studies utilizing MGPs do not consider sufficiently the socio-historical contexts of social groups. Here we investigated whether the recategorization of White participants into arbitrarily defined mixed-race teams using a non-competitive MGP would ameliorate racial empathy biases towards ingroup team members in the South African context. Sixty participants rated their empathic and counter-empathic (Schadenfreude, Glückschmerz) responses to ingroup and outgroup team members in physically painful, emotionally distressing, and positive situations. As anticipated, results indicated significant ingroup team biases in empathic and counter-empathic responses. However, mixed-race minimal teams were unable to override ingroup racial empathy biases, which persisted across events. Interestingly, a manipulation highlighting purported political ideological differences between White and Black African team members did not exacerbate racial empathy bias, suggesting that such perceptions were already salient. Across conditions, an internal motivation to respond without prejudice was most strongly associated with empathy for Black African target individuals, regardless of their team status. Together, these results suggest that racial identity continues to provide a salient motivational guide in addition to more arbitrary group memberships, even at an explicit level, for empathic responding in contexts characterized by historical power asymmetry. These data further problematize the continued official use of race-based categories in such contexts.

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“…In 1994 with the demise of apartheid, colonial ideologies were rejected, and a democratically elected political party came into power that was representative of the Black majority. After almost three decades of liberation, however, racial polarization shows no signs of abating, the White minority continues to hold significant economic power and privilege, and wealth and income inequalities continue to be rampant within Black communities (Chatterjee, 2019; Fourie & Verwoerd, 2022; Hino et al, 2018; Sulla & Zikhali, 2018). This lack of structural change is particularly stark for the millions of people who continue to live in ever-expanding and dehumanizing township settlements (Wale et al, 2020).…”

Section: Dehumanization: a Brief Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hierarchies of being human: Intergroup dehumanization and its implication in present-day South Africa.

Fourie¹,

Deist²,

Moore‐Berg³

2022

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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The 20th century saw the dismantling of several oppressive regimes and an international turn toward greater social justice. Yet structural inequality and intergroup animosity persist in many postcolonial and postslavery contexts, not least because the dehumanization inherent to those regimes remain entrenched socially. Here we examined whether the racialized hierarchy established under the inhumane South African apartheid system is still manifest in patterns of dehumanization today, and how this impacts intergroup relations and behaviors related to structural reform. Specifically, we investigated blatant dehumanization as the explicit attribution of reduced human uniqueness, factors contributing to its tenacity, and its intergroup outcomes in a national sample of the three largest racialized groups: Black African, Coloured, and White. We found that, despite significant changes in power dynamics postapartheid, dehumanization ratings mirrored the apartheid-inspired hierarchy, with White people rated “more human” than Coloured people, and Coloured people rated “more human” than Black African people across participants. Levels of dehumanization were ameliorated by positive intergroup contact and reinforced by feeling dehumanized (meta-dehumanization) and hierarchy-legitimizing beliefs in White and Coloured participants. Finally, White participants’ dehumanization of Black African people predicted, beyond prejudice, several outcomes (social distance, collective action, and petition support) that would sustain the unequal status quo. Our results suggest that intergroup dynamics are influenced by the positions people occupied on the apartheid racial hierarchy, and that curbing dehumanization should be prioritized to advance structural reform in South Africa.

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COVID-19 as Natural Intervention: Guilt and Perceived Historical Privilege Contributes to Structural Reform Under Conditions of Crisis

Cited by 3 publications

References 72 publications

We cannot empathize with what we do not recognize: Perceptions of structural versus interpersonal racism in South Africa

We cannot empathize with what we do not recognize: Perceptions of structural versus interpersonal racism in South Africa

(Not) part of the team: Racial empathy bias in a South African minimal group study

Hierarchies of being human: Intergroup dehumanization and its implication in present-day South Africa.

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