Witnessing racial discrimination shapes collective action for racial justice: Enhancing awareness of privilege among advantaged groups

Abstract

Typically, members of advantaged racial groups tend to have limited awareness of discrimination targeting members of disadvantaged racial groups (Tropp & Barlow, 2018). White Americans are generally less likely to perceive racial discrimination against Black people and other racial minorities than are Black Americans (Gallup, 2016; Pew, 2016). Many White Americans are also disinclined to believe that racial prejudice and discrimination still exist against racial minorities (Wilkins & Kaiser, 2014), often presuming that members of disadvantaged racial groups are somehow exaggerating any claims of discrimination they may face (see ABC News, 2000; Dover et al., 2014). We contend that one reason for this limited awareness of racial discrimination targeting other racial groups is that, because of their relative racial privilege, members of advantaged racial groups do not regularly experience the same kinds of mistreatment as those experienced by members of disadvantaged racial groups. Racebased privileges are often invisible to advantaged racial groups, at the same time as they are readily visible and likely to impact the life experiences and opportunities of members of disadvantaged racial

The role of ethnic identification, allyship, and conflict narratives in supporting pro-minority policies among majority and minority groups.

“…In other words, among strong allies, low ethnic identity was associated with more endorsement of the minority group's conflict narrative. Considering that allies tend to have higher awareness of privilege (Ostrove & Brown, 2018), be more ingroup critical (Case, 2012), as well as less identify with their advantaged identity (Uluğ & Tropp, 2020), our results complement previous findings by showing that when majority group members strongly identify as allies, their lower ethnic identification is associated with more endorsement of the minority group's conflict narrative. Put it differently, lower ethnic identification among majority group members helps to see the conflict from the eyes of minority group members when majority group members strongly identify as allies.…”

How do people support each other in emergencies? A qualitative exploration of altruistic and prosocial behaviours during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Extract 11 is an example of how economically advantaged people who shared a human identity shared their financial resources with nonprofit organizations to support economically disadvantaged people. In their research, Uluğ and colleagues ( 2021 ) found that higher awareness of socio‐economic status‐based privilege and higher identification with all humanity predicts more support for equal socio‐economic policies. We also observe that, during the pandemic, some people with economically privileged backgrounds tend to share their resources with disadvantaged groups as in other emergencies.…”

“…Uluğ et al. ( 2021 ) showed that identification with all humanity predicts higher economic support for disadvantaged groups. Considering allies as the ones who share a human identity with the disadvantaged population, our research has shown that not only economically advantaged but also physically advantaged people help other people during the pandemic.…”

Shared humanity, awareness of socio-economic privilege, and classism during the pandemic as predictors of supporting equal socio-economic policies

“…On the other hand, our findings also showed that higher awareness of class-based privilege predicts more support for economic equality (Hypothesis 3), thus confirming our third hypothesis. Even though privilege awareness among advantaged groups has been studied in different intergroup relations such as racial relations (Powell et al, 2005;Stewart et al, 2012;Uluğ & Tropp, 2021) and sexual orientation relations (Case & Stewart, 2010), we know little about the consequences of the status-based privilege awareness or the ways in which socio-economic privilege awareness plays a role in reactions toward socio-economic policies, which may improve the relations between the economically advantaged and economically disadvantaged. Our results contribute to filling this gap in the literature.…”

“…In addition to classism, awareness of class-based privilege also plays an important role in supporting certain economic policies. Research on privilege awareness in the context of intergroup relations has indicated that among advantaged groups, awareness of privilege may be an important motivating factor in supporting disadvantaged groups, both in favoring policies that improve conditions for the disadvantaged group, and in participating in collective action on behalf of the disadvantaged group (e.g., Stewart et al, 2012;Uluğ & Tropp, 2021). We argue that in the aftermath of the pandemic, individuals with classist beliefs would be less likely to support economic policies promoting socio-economic equality, while individuals with a heightened class-based awareness would have a greater likelihood of supporting such policies.…”