The perception of racism in ambiguous scenarios

Abstract

Recent theorising on the nature of racism suggests that over the last few decades it has come to be expressed in more subtle and ambiguous ways because while many Whites proclaim egalitarian values, their cognitions and behaviour are in¯uenced by prejudices that are buried deep in their psyche. This leads to the possibility that those who perpetrate and those who experience racism may have different interpretations of events that involve racism. Essed (1991) has suggested that because they are exposed to racism systematically, those who experience racism are in a good position to detect it if they have both knowledge of normal behaviour for particular situations, and a general knowledge of racism. Using Essed's model of the assessment of racist events, the descriptions of six videotaped ambiguously racist scenarios given by 40 Caucasian students and 40 Asian students were analysed to determine whether situational or general knowledge of racism was evident. Contrary to expectations, the Asian students, who belong to a group targeted with racism in Australia, were less likely to see racism in the scenarios. Finding the scenarios to be acceptable indicated a lack of situational knowledge and, hence, an inability to use general knowledge of racism if it exists. The role of cultural values in the application of situational knowledge is discussed, and further empirical investigations of Essed's model are proposed.

The experiences of Vietnamese in Australia: the racist tradition continues

“…It is supplemented by general education and the media. Consistent with another recent study by Mellor et al (2001), the current findings suggest that new immigrant groups who do not have an extensive history of racist experiences may not have developed a general knowledge of racism. Indeed, Essed (1991) found differences between black women in the United States and black women in the Netherlands regarding their general knowledge of racism.…”

Sport labour migration: understanding leisure activities of American professional basketball players abroad

“…Without further ethnographic fieldwork, it is difficult to determine whether the participants' observations reflect a lack of racism, potential lack of awareness or reluctance to discuss the phenomenon without building more trust between participants and researchers. This suggests the need for further research on experiences and perceptions of racism among sport labour migrants, especially in ambiguous scenarios (Mellor et al, 2001).…”

Immigrant perceptions of ethnic and racial discrimination: patterns and singularities in a municipality in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area

“…According to these scholars, the false notion that the Portuguese are generally benevolent in this regard is clear in the results of a Eurotest opinion poll published in the press in 1990. 6 In Essed's view (cited by Mellor et al 2001), two factors explain the incongruence between facts and theory: first, people may lack sufficient knowledge of what is tolerable and what is not, and so do not interpret everyday instances of discrimination as such; second, institutional racism is so rooted that it has become natural and internalised.…”