Internalized racism
These definitions encompass a wide range of instances, including, but not limited to, belief in negative stereotypes, adaptations to cultural standards, and thinking that supports the status quo (i.e. denying that racism exists).
Du Bois wrote about the existence of "double-consciousness", or "this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity," to explain American racial minorities' self-perception as heavily influenced by the white majority's perception of them.
[7] Sociologists Karen and Tran Dang wrote: "Due to the discomfort, confusion, and embarrassment the subject raises, an intellectual taboo surrounds the study of internalized racism.
A major concern is that because internalized racism reveals dynamics by which oppression is reproduced, it will lead to blaming the victims and move attention away from the racist institutions and practices that privilege whites at the expense of people of color.
"[12] Alternatively, Campón and Carter use this list: "appropriations of negative stereotypes, thinking that maintains status quo (denying racism), adaptation to white cultural standards, devaluation of own group, and emotional reactions.
[2] Academics have attempted to create reliable measures of internalized racism, in order to test its correlation to health outcomes and other variables of interest.
[2] In the AROS, Campón and Carter use items such as "There have been times when I have been embarrassed to be a member of my race", "I would like for my children to have light skin", and "People take racial jokes too seriously" to assess an individual's level of internalized racism.
[17] In a 2018 study from Taylor, Garcia, Shelton and Yantis, note that both stereotype threat and a "black sheep effect" are products of internalized racism.
[18] Through being reminded of negative stereotypes associated with their race, participants responded with increased uncertainty, lower performance on tasks, and emotional reactions of anger and shame.
[20][19] Todd Platts and Kim Hoosier professors of sociology at Piedmont Virginia Community College examined ways to reduce stereotype threats in the classroom.
As an example of the intraracial case, Karen Pyke uses the term "defensive othering" to describe an individual or collective act of distancing oneself from members within one's own race that have a closer proximity to negative stereotypes.
[22] With examples from Egypt, China, India and other regions, Washington notes that, through internalized racism, non-black people of color are reproducing white desirability and a devaluation of blackness.
[23] The study found that adolescents who are marginalized based on characteristics of their identity such as their race, social class, income, and gender can benefit from being critically conscious.
[24] When students from a minority group are placed in a school where the teachers and/or peers are majority white, the lack of diverse representation can produce feelings of inferiority.
Julian Rice notes that apathy towards cultural traditions, self-centeredness, and materialistic obsession could all be seen as an adoption of narratives from the US government or missionaries that emphasized the superior mindset of whiteness.
[5] In the case of alcoholism especially, internalized racism about native inferiority created conditions of dependency on European superiority, leading to the creation of negative stereotypes.
"[27] The study also found that, "in attempting to gain acceptance among whites, some Asian American students avoided and expressed disgust toward coethnics, to whom they applied the negative stereotypes.
"[citation needed] A 2001 study of third-generation-plus Chinese and Japanese Americans found that respondents "developed various strategies to cope with their own identities in reaction to their racialization as 'perpetual foreigners' and 'model minorities.'
"[8] The study found that respondents internalized these sentiments and "genuinely felt a sense of shame, embarrassment, disgust, and discomfort toward those" to whom they referred as "FOBs" (short for "fresh off the boat").
[37] The context of race and racism in China is heavily affected by the fact that the large majority of the country is identified as Han Chinese (90.56% of the reported population in 2005).
One author argued that the policing of rural migrant workers in some cities was affected by their status as recognized or unrecognized minority groups.
[39] Examples of these terms include "black (preto, negro), white (branco), brown or mixed (moreno, mulato), dark (escuro), light (claro), closed (fechado), freckled (sarard), and others.
[39] Anthropologist Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman found this especially apparent when working with and around pregnant women in a poor and working-class neighborhood in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
Women expressed a clear desire and preferential treatment for children that were "whiter" in appearance, even engaging in practices of pinching an infant's nose to try to make it smaller.
[3][2][12] A study conducted by researchers Mouzon and McLean found that there is a positive correlation between internalized racism in black individuals and the state of their mental health, specifically depression and psychological distress.
This conclusion is significant considering that, "anxiety disorders have been found to be more persistent in Black American populations as compared to other racial groups.
"[43] The same study goes on to describe the methods therapists can take to mitigate the anxiety in black individuals caused by internalized racism, such as rationalizing negative thoughts.
These studies imply that internalized racism subjects the racially oppressed to a wide range of adverse mental and physical health outcomes.
Developing White Racial Literacy, Robin DiAngelo describes the cycle of racism as a feedback loop that uses power, control, and economics to go from (1) systematic mistreatment of a group to creation of misinformation to, (2) societal acceptance of misinformation to, (3) internalized oppression and internalized dominance to, (4) racism perpetuated and enforced by institutions, leading to, (5) justification for further mistreatment.
[48] Marc Weinblatt and Cheryl Harrison emphasize that one must acknowledge that race is a social category with real implications while at the same time reject the falsehoods behind racist attitudes.
