fear, loathing, and forgiveness
Disclaimer: I’m really nervous about this post. I believe in the message I intend to convey because it’s meant as one of understanding, but I worry about how easily it could be misused or misinterpreted.
I think discourse over issues like racism is in a very unhelpful place at the moment. The charge of racism is used as a weapon, which puts people on the defensive about being racist. Of course, in some ways this is a healthy development relative to times when being racist was tolerated, acceptable, or even morally righteous. But it’s my reading of the psychology literature that basically everyone is racist, including myself. That’s not to say that everyone hates people of different races, but instead that we’ve all been raised in a culture that teaches us to expect negative characteristics of people based on their race.
Our society teaches us (in very subtle ways) the stereotypes – it’s been what psychologists call “overlearned.” So, even people who genuinely do not want to have negative attitudes about, let’s say, natives, are likely to have the stereotype of natives primed when they encounter a native person, or even think about the topic. That is, in order to deal with information efficiently, we basically get ready all the concepts we associate with a stimulus so we can respond quickly and effortlessly. In a society that teaches us that natives are lazy, that thought is ready to go when we encounter a native person. It then takes some effort to override that stereotype through a process of correction. That is, there’s a certain degree of conscious effort where you recognize you’re using stereotypic information (e.g., ruminating on how lazy the person is), acknowledging where that comes from, and suppressing the use of that information. So it’s not that people who act in egalitarian ways never have racist thoughts, they’re just more likely to dismiss them and not let them affect their attitudes or behaviour.
In this sense, then, we’re all racist because we’ve all been taught the stereotypes so well they come to mind automatically. Being non-racist involves some effort a) correcting those stereotypes when they come to mind and b) training yourself over time so that correction becomes automatic in the same way as the stereotype is automatic.
Of course, I need to be careful here. I’m not at all saying that it’s okay to be racist because people aren’t trying to be racist. Instead, it means that we all need to be careful, because even despite good intentions, it’s actually kind of easy for us to be racist. It’s upping the ante by acknowledging that the way our brain works, even “good” people can do and say horrible and hurtful things.
And this is where I get worried about the discourse. When someone, like a politician, gets called racist, the only response you ever see is angry denial. But this is predicated on the notion that racists are rare, so a racist is a monstrous aberration. Because there’s this illusion that only “bad” people are racist (accompanied by the myth that racism has been stopped), considering yourself as racist can lead to defensiveness and a lack of honest introspection.
And that’s the crux of the matter. To me, the only way to lessen the impact of the racist lessons we’ve learned is to be honest when we notice that stereotypes come to mind, recognize them for what they are, and correct ourselves. We might feel shame by doing so, but the shame is a signal that can be used rather than defended against.
Anyway, I’m still pretty nervous about all this, but in many ways it’s the process I went through on my journey from repressed conservative to less repressed liberal. Ultimately, I wanted to square the fact that I just wanted to be nice to individual people with the fact that I seemed to have such negative attitudes toward people at the group level. And when I figured out that all these groups I didn’t like were just a bunch of individuals, scared and wanting to be loved just like me, it started to fall into place. But, I feel like I had to acknowledge my own faults and defensiveness around those faults before I could open up to correcting my mistakes.
I think discourse over issues like racism is in a very unhelpful place at the moment. The charge of racism is used as a weapon, which puts people on the defensive about being racist. Of course, in some ways this is a healthy development relative to times when being racist was tolerated, acceptable, or even morally righteous. But it’s my reading of the psychology literature that basically everyone is racist, including myself. That’s not to say that everyone hates people of different races, but instead that we’ve all been raised in a culture that teaches us to expect negative characteristics of people based on their race.
Our society teaches us (in very subtle ways) the stereotypes – it’s been what psychologists call “overlearned.” So, even people who genuinely do not want to have negative attitudes about, let’s say, natives, are likely to have the stereotype of natives primed when they encounter a native person, or even think about the topic. That is, in order to deal with information efficiently, we basically get ready all the concepts we associate with a stimulus so we can respond quickly and effortlessly. In a society that teaches us that natives are lazy, that thought is ready to go when we encounter a native person. It then takes some effort to override that stereotype through a process of correction. That is, there’s a certain degree of conscious effort where you recognize you’re using stereotypic information (e.g., ruminating on how lazy the person is), acknowledging where that comes from, and suppressing the use of that information. So it’s not that people who act in egalitarian ways never have racist thoughts, they’re just more likely to dismiss them and not let them affect their attitudes or behaviour.
In this sense, then, we’re all racist because we’ve all been taught the stereotypes so well they come to mind automatically. Being non-racist involves some effort a) correcting those stereotypes when they come to mind and b) training yourself over time so that correction becomes automatic in the same way as the stereotype is automatic.
Of course, I need to be careful here. I’m not at all saying that it’s okay to be racist because people aren’t trying to be racist. Instead, it means that we all need to be careful, because even despite good intentions, it’s actually kind of easy for us to be racist. It’s upping the ante by acknowledging that the way our brain works, even “good” people can do and say horrible and hurtful things.
And this is where I get worried about the discourse. When someone, like a politician, gets called racist, the only response you ever see is angry denial. But this is predicated on the notion that racists are rare, so a racist is a monstrous aberration. Because there’s this illusion that only “bad” people are racist (accompanied by the myth that racism has been stopped), considering yourself as racist can lead to defensiveness and a lack of honest introspection.
And that’s the crux of the matter. To me, the only way to lessen the impact of the racist lessons we’ve learned is to be honest when we notice that stereotypes come to mind, recognize them for what they are, and correct ourselves. We might feel shame by doing so, but the shame is a signal that can be used rather than defended against.
Anyway, I’m still pretty nervous about all this, but in many ways it’s the process I went through on my journey from repressed conservative to less repressed liberal. Ultimately, I wanted to square the fact that I just wanted to be nice to individual people with the fact that I seemed to have such negative attitudes toward people at the group level. And when I figured out that all these groups I didn’t like were just a bunch of individuals, scared and wanting to be loved just like me, it started to fall into place. But, I feel like I had to acknowledge my own faults and defensiveness around those faults before I could open up to correcting my mistakes.
posted by H. Now at 8:28 p.m.
10 Comments:
Very interesting post. I've been working on formulating a response, but this medium is poor for such things. So we'll have to have a chat about it when you get back from your trip...
Typical!
I often wonder how many personal experiences it takes to create these stereotypes which teach us...
lochalsh - too funny, although it took me a few minutes to get it.
anon - my guess is we learn them in childhood, when we're vulnerable to learning things quickly (i.e., we're more trusting). then it takes a long time to unlearn.
so-so: I think you may have misunderstood anons comment. Perhaps he was wondering how specific stereotypes emerge...so if "natives" are viewed as lazy...at what point did this become the stereotype....how experiences did it take?
P.S. yeah....I think thats what he meant.
oops how many experiences? lol
Very nice post. I hadn't thought about this previously, but now that I've read your post on it, I see that it is true.
To which I think, bugger.
Do you have any thoughts on how to correct it at a systemic level?
I'm with you on the idea that group bias happens speedily and to a large extent is overlearned from childhood etc & can't be inhibited w/out effort. I also think its expression should not be grounds for individual attack since it is not the individual but the group position that is the problem.
However, you know the American socio-cog view that "everyone" learns stereotypes is not univ accepted - the SIT model draws attention to extent to which stereotypes learned are attached to certain groups. So replace "everyone" with Whites learn natives are racist - a subtle but important diff, b/c instead of saying "everyone is prejudiced" it replaces that with "privileged people are prejudiced" (teach themselves stereotypes / selectively notice traits that justify their privilege). What's more, research shows ppl are quite strategic in how they express racism - e.g., more common when disguised, anonymous, supported by norms.... All this to say that the idea that prejudice is an accident of natural brain processes is too narrow & lets people off the hook too much - most of the time it's a product of people's material & psychological urge to reinforce constructed social systems of privilege.
The SIT model (and others like Jost, Lerner) point out the extent to which stereotypes are not learned from experience at all - you don't interact w/ natives to learn that they're lazy, you learn it from your parents/the media/etc. The content of these stereotypes sometimes reflects 'kernels of truth' but most likely reflects the environmental position of the group. That's why you get wave after wave of immigrant groups & poor peoples of the day with the same stereotypes - Irish then Polish people / Ukrainians then Italians then ... - which victim blame for poverty.
In terms of how to deal w/ racism, I feel the dialogue should go "that was a racist thing to say!" "yes, oops" rather than "you're a racist" "no I'm not"... -WRL
Bugger. What anonymous said also makes sense.
Especially: "privileged people are prejudiced" (teach themselves stereotypes / selectively notice traits that justify their privilege)."
Is there any discussion on why minorities interalise these predjudices. For example, why a Ukrainian or Italian may see themselves as the cause of poverty, ie internalise the predjudiced belief?
Does this happen?
First off, I didn't mean to imply that the stereotypes come from actual experience with members of the stereotyped group. I think they come from exposure to narratives about the group. Many people develop strong stereotypes about groups they've never met. I remember distinctly as a child trying to work out why people didn't like Jewish people - I hadn't (to my knowledge) met any Jewish people, but was keenly aware of negative evaluations. So, I agree that it doesn't take any experiences, in the sense of direct experience.
But, I do think that saying stereotypes only arise out of privelege is probably too strong a statement. You're right, anonymous (WRL) that people are very strategic about how they express stereotypes. But, the fact that there are stereotypes about priveleged groups suggests that you can be non-priveleged and still hold and express stereotypes. For example, I have some nasty stereotypes about athletes, a group that in our culture is strongly valued. It's my sense that these stereotypes are most likely to be used when I feel threatened. So I would suspect that the link between privelege and stereotypes is so strong because a) to maintain privelege you have to ward off perceived threats from rival groups and group members and b) social psychologists have focused on stereotypes of non-priveleged groups (for good reason) so that's the data that's mostly available. You probably know this literature better than I do WRL, but it is my belief that stereotyping is still more automatic and widespread then your comment suggests.
Why do groups internalize stereotypes? I'm sure there are many reasons - for example, if you grow up being taught that something is true by the authorities around you, you might well believe it. But one I find especially persuasive is that stereotyped groups are often believed to have not just negative qualities, but positive (though limiting) qualities as well. So, women are lauded for being so good with children - women are seen as being emotionally superior to men. In this way, you can feel good about yourself by internalizing the values of what a woman should be. But, notice that to fulfill this positive value, women have to be the primary caretaker. So this sterotype can make women feel good while limiting their options. In my opinion, it's the same for men - men are supposed to be better at business skills...so men are trained to work and not spend time with family. What a huge loss for men that they're socialized not to spend time in such a fulfilling way.
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