Racism and prejudice: An Australian psychological society position paper

Abstract

City of Maribrynong n view of the rise of racist rhetoric in Australian public life in recent years, this paper reviews psychological research onI racism and prejudice as they are expressed at every level of society from government policy to the intrapersonal sphere. It draws on evidence arising from social, developmental, clinical, and community psychology. The mental health system is used as an exemplar to analyse the operation of institutionalised racism, and some observations are made about the past, present, and potential future roles of psychological research and practice in relation to race and racism. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations about ways to reduce racism and prejudice at all levels of society. Executive SummaryThis position paper is written in the context of current social and political debates about native title, reconciliation with Aboriginal people, multiculturalism, and immigration, and is intended to achieve several ends. By summarising psychological theory, research, and practice in relation to racism and prejudice, we hope it will increase understanding of these phenomena among psychologists, policy makers, and the public. We have spelled out some of the policy and practical implications of this review in a series of recommendations (see below). The current context also makes it timely for psychology to critically examine its contributions to this potentially very divisive social issue, and the pervasive effects of institutionalised racism within institutions, disciplines, and professions. We hope the paper will contribute to increased awareness of these issues and to repositioning psychology to work collaboratively with minority groups.

Ethnicity, Attributions for Offending Behaviour, and Judgements of Responsibility and Severity of Sentence

“…These findings appear to indicate a sympathetic bias toward Indigenous offenders that conflicts with the literature, suggesting that strong negative attitudes toward Indigenous Australians are common (e.g., Pedersen, Griffiths, Contos, Bishop, & Walker, 2000;Pedersen et al, 2004;Sanson et al, 1998;Walker, 1994). Feather and Souter (2002) present three possible explanations for their results: growing cultural awareness of discrimination against Indigenous people; participants attempting to portray an unprejudiced, socially desirable self-image to others; and a general cultural emphasis on egalitarianism and tolerance.…”

The Employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Local Government: Issues, Benefits, and Ways Forward

“…The setting of numerical targets regarding the number of Aboriginal people employed in local government as a part of an employment policy was consistently thought of as not very useful, and perhaps counterproductive and limiting. On the face of it, this appears to be contrary to the recommendations of the Don Dunstan Foundation Report , but a closer reading of that report and of the comments made here shows that both are concerned with gaining Aboriginal representation in a broad range of roles across local government, and not just an overall tally: Another concern around the setting of targets was that they should apply to each of the diversity of roles across the council, avoiding over-representation of Aboriginal people in low-level roles: A highly effective form of cultural awareness 'training', supported by the Australian Psychological Society position paper on reducing racism and prejudice (Sanson et al, 1998), is exposure to positive images of Aboriginal people that disconfirm negative stereotypes. Responsibility for compliance with policy.…”

‘They say I’m not a typical Blackfella’: Experiences of racism and ontological insecurity in urban Australia

“…However, as others have noted (Augoustinos, 2009;Sanson et al, 1998), there may be a switch from overt to covert racism, while some examples of 'old-fashioned' racism remain. The pervasive regularity of racism for some interviewees meant that it was not realistic to expect victims to actively combat it every time.…”