Professor of Psychology Dominic Abrams uncovers why we in the UK find it hard to label someone's behaviour 'racist', unless it is very obvious.
Download a PDF of the articleJane Elliot arrived in the UK determined to show that prejudice exists, and that racism is embedded in our society without many of us realising it.
Since the 1960s Jane Elliot has been running ‘demonstrations’ in schools and latterly with adult groups for organisations and communities. These exercises aim to show that, by dint of being categorised based on some personal characteristic such as skin colour, appearance or even (in the demonstrations) eye colour, people can become the victims of serious discrimination, and that this can easily become ‘institutionalised’.
The process of institutionalising prejudice proceeds through a number of steps with both sides taking on or perpetuating a range of characteristics, attitudes and behaviours. These include:
Categorisation - Shared characteristics that make one group different from another
Power - A sense of certainty and belief that one is right
Self-fulfilling prophecies - Behaving in a way that confirms the negative attributes used to categorise
Stereotype threat - When members of lower status category perform badly because they believe they might be compared with a higher status category, or that they might confirm a negative stereotype about their group
Justifying inequality - Seizing and maintaining an advantage over a less powerful group and downplaying its unfairness.
Categorisation
First, and fundamentally, when people are assigned to categories, particularly categories that they cannot deny belonging to, they begin to think of themselves in terms of their shared characteristics with others in the same category. They also begin to focus on the characteristics that make their own different from the other category and the categories immediately take hold in the way people view themselves and how they view others.
Power
Recent psychological research shows that believing one has power can have direct psychological effects on the way one thinks and acts. Power gives a sense of certainty and powerful people are likely to believe that they are in the right. People with lower power are more cautious, circumspect and less likely to assert their views.
Self-fulfilling prophecies and stereotype threat
Once categories and negative characteristics are assigned to a lower power group, psychologically, the lower power groups begin to behave in ways that confirm the negative stereotypes used to describe them.
As this conflict begins to develop, the powerful group begins to feel responsible for controlling and improving the behaviour of the Blue Eyes. Once these low expectations are established it doesn’t take long for the group in power to act as though it is no longer worth giving the others difficult or important things to do as they cannot even manage the basics. The more this develops the harder it is for the low power group to challenge the situation.
Justifying Inequality
For the most part, people who receive an advantage are likely to take it, and often they will believe they deserve it. Differences in power and opportunity become perpetuated because powerful groups do not like to level the playing field, and will do a lot to justify their advantage. Not only do powerful groups like to keep things as they are, but members of powerless groups often go along with that too.
Download a PDF of the articleDiscover more about the Race: Science's Last Taboo season.
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