Process Of Racial Socialization

Racial Socialization

Racial socialization is the process of passing down of racial and worldview messages to younger generations (Araujo Dawson & Quiros, 2014). Racial socialization can be expressed through cultural language, food, history, artwork which teaches ethnic pride. Often times parents pass the same racial messages and beliefs down to their children which they received as a child (Hughes & Chen, 1997). Several factors play a role in the process of racial socialization such as age, gender, parents’ education/ socio-economic status and family discrimination experiences (Hughes et al., 2006). Parents racially socialized messages generally shift according to their child age (Hughes & Chen, 1997; Hughes et al., 2006). When children are

Thompson, 1995). People that appear to belong to a distinct racial group may not claim any connections to that group. Black racial identity has been correlated with negative academic outcomes and low self-esteem. According to Phinney (1989), there are four statuses of racial identities, such as diffused status, foreclosed status, moratorium status, and achieved status. Diffused status is where an individual have not committed or explored the meaning of their race/ ethnicity (Yip, Seaton, & Sellers, 2006). Foreclosed status refers to the commitment of an ethnicity based upon parental or social influence without personal exploration of other ethnicities (Yip, Seaton, & Sellers, 2006). Moratorium status is the process that an individual is searching ethnicities but have not made a commitment to identify with one. Achieved status refers to a person that have explored and committed to a racial identity that fit their description (Yip, Seaton, & Sellers, 2006). A person who has reached achieved status racial identity is more likely to make race central compared to a person who have not reached achieved status (Yip, Seaton, & Sellers, 2006). Centrality refers to the importance of race and ethnicity to an individual. Racial identity, centrality, and self-concept influence racial

M. Sellers, Chavous, & Cooke, 1998). Racial ideology reflects how an individual believe blacks should behave in society (R. M. Sellers, Chavous, & Cooke, 1998). There are four forms of racial ideologies: assimilation, humanistic, nationalist, oppressed minority (Robert M. Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, & Chavous, 1998). Assimilation ideology focuses on the parallels of Blacks and the rest of America. Humanistic ideology looks at the similarities between all groups of people. Humanistic ideology promotes do not use social categories such as race, gender and sexual orientation (Robert M. Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, & Chavous, 1998). Nationalist ideology refers to black pride and cultural distinctiveness. Oppressed minority ideology focuses on similarities between blacks and other oppressed groups such as Native Americans, Jews,