You blind? What, you can't see that?: the impact of colorblind attitudes on young adults' activist behavior against racial injustice and racism in America
Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Colorblind ideology and social dominance orientation are two social attitudes that contribute to the continuation of racism in the United States. Colorblind ideology encourages people to no longer see color (race), so when color does matter they cannot see it. Social dominance orientation reflects the extent to which people support group equality. Given the importance of racism and the racial climate in today’s society, the current study was conducted to examine if those social attitudes affected young adults (age 18-35) activist behavior to act against racism and the negative racial climate in America. Two hundred twenty-two participants completed a survey comprised of previously validated scales; Colorblind Scale (Neville et al., 2000), Social Dominance Orientation7(s) (Ho et al., 2015) and the Activism Orientation Scale (Corning & Myers, 2002). The survey was distributed on the University of Delaware campus with results revealing that colorblind attitudes and social dominance orientation significantly associated negatively with activist behavior. I conclude with explaining the importance of combating colorblind ideology in the fight against racism and the racial climate in America.
Description
Keywords
Social sciences, Psychology, Activism, Colorbind, Racial centrality, Racism, Social dominance orientation, Young adult