Abstract
Contrary to popular depiction of young people in the United States as post-racial in their views about race, survey evidence confirms numerous differences in the views of White and non-White young people. These differences are seen both in studies of young people in the nation at large as well as among those attending colleges and universities. This chapter, which reports on a large experiment (N = 730 students) based on random assignment of student applicants to 26 race dialogue courses and to 26 wait-list control groups, also shows that students of color, compared to White students, held different explanations for racial/ethnic inequality when they applied to enroll in race/ethnicity dialogue courses. Participation in the race/ethnicity dialogue courses: (1) increased structural attributions for racial/ethnic inequality, although this effect was statistically reliable only for White students, and (2) narrowed but did not erase the initial differences between the two groups of students on the measures of structural attributions for racial/ethnic inequality. Thus, although race still matters at the end of the dialogue courses, the narrowing of perspectives on causes for racial inequality augurs well for possible coalitions of White youth and youth of color in attempting to reduce racial inequality.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
We use the term “race/ethnicity” as an inclusive term, comprising members of racially privileged and racially disadvantaged groups in the United States. We acknowledge that race and ethnicity have distinct meanings, and also that both are social constructions denoting experiences of groups defined in some places and at some times as races and in some places and at some times as ethnicities. Given the history of the United States, race and racism are sometimes seen only in terms of Black–White relations. Race/ethnicity as an inclusive term includes Arab and Arab Americans, Asian and Asian/Pacific Islander Americans, Black/African and African Americans, Latino(a)s, Native Americans/First Nations people, Whites/European Americans and multiracial/ethnic people.
- 2.
Studies vary in terminology used for the US population of Latin American/Spanish speaking country background, some using Latino and others using Hispanic. In this chapter, we use Latino regardless of the term a specific study may have used.
- 3.
Studies cited here vary in how youth are defined, some using 15–25, others 18–29, and still others 18–33.
- 4.
One survey was of youth 15–25 conducted by the National Opinion Research Center, with an oversampling of Black youth, and the other was random sample of the population of households in the United States with an oversampling of Blacks, Latinos, Asians (as well as Whites) ages 18–35.
- 5.
The effect of dialogue was assessed using the categories of White students and students of color because at no university were there enough students from various groups of color to conduct dialogue courses involving White students with separate groups of color (Whites and African Americans, Whites and Latinos, Whites and Asian Americans) or involving two different groups of color.
- 6.
Standardized mean differences are calculated by dividing the difference in means between students of color and White students by their pooled standard deviation.
- 7.
The exact percentages cannot be compared because in our study multiple questions about inequality were used, whereas in the national studies two single items (discrimination, lack of access to education) were consistently used to measure structural attributions for inequality, and two single items (lack of motivation and willpower, less inborn ability) were used to measure individual attributions for inequality.
References
Adams, G., O’Brien, L. T., & Nelson, J. C. (2006). Perceptions of racism in Hurricane Katrina: A liberation psychology analysis. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 6(1), 215–235.
Apollon, D. (2011, June 7). What’s racism? That’s harder for youth to answer than you think. http://www.Colorlines.com.
Bai, M. (2010, July 17). Beneath divides seemingly about race are generational fault lines. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/us/politis/18bai.html.
Bobo, L. D. (2001). Racial attitudes and relations at the close of the twentieth century. In N. J. Smelser, W. J. Wilson, & F. Mitchell (Eds.), America becoming: Racial trends and their consequences. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Bobo, L. D. (2011). Somewhere between Jim Crow and post-racialism: Reflections on the racial divide in America today. Daedalus, 140(2), 11–36.
Bobo, L. D., & Fox, C. (2003). Race, racism, and discrimination: Bridging problems, methods and theory in social psychological research. Social Psychology Quarterly, 66(4), 319–332.
Bobo, L. D., & Johnson, D. (2000). Racial attitudes in a prismatic metropolis: Mapping identity, stereotypes, competition, and views on affirmative action. In L. D. Bobo, M. L. Oliver, J. H. Johnson Jr., & A. Valenzuela Jr. (Eds.), Prismatic metropolis: Inequality in Los Angeles. New York: Russell Sage.
Bobo, L. D., Kluegel, J. R., & Smith, R. A. (1997). Laissez-faire racism: The crystallization of a kinder, gentler anti-Black ideology. In S. A. Tuch & J. K. Martin (Eds.), Racial attitudes in the 1990s: Continuity and change. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Bobo, L. D., & Massagli, M. P. (2001). Stereotyping and urban inequality. In A. O’Connor, C. Tilly, & L. D. Bobo (Eds.), Urban inequality: Evidence from four cities. New York: Russell Sage.
Cohen, C. J. (2011). Millennials and the myth of the post-racial society: Black youth, intra-generational divisions and the continuing racial divide in American politics. Daedalus, 140(2), 197–205.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Dessel, A., Rogge, M. E., & Garlington, S. B. (2006). Using intergroup dialogue to promote social justice and change. Social Work, 51(4), 303–315.
Ellinor, L., & Gerard, G. (1998). Dialogue: Rediscover the transforming power of conversation. New York: Wiley.
Feagin, J. R. (1975). Subordinating the poor: Welfare and American beliefs. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Gorski, P. (2008). Good intentions are not enough: A decolonizing intercultural education. Intercultural Education, 19(6), 515–525.
Grutter v. Bollinger, 288 F.3d 732 (2003).
Gurin, G., Wade-Golden, K., & Matlock, J. (2011). Racial/ethnic perspectives of societal inequalities. Unpublished manuscript, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Gurin, P., Miller, A., & Gurin, G. (1980). Stratum identification and consciousness. Social Psychology Quarterly, 43(1), 30–47.
Gurin, P., Nagda, B. A., & Zúñiga, X. (2013). Dialogue across difference: Practice, theory, and research on intergroup dialogue. New York: Russell Sage.
Hochschild, J. A., Weaver, V. M., & Burch, T. (2011). Destabilizing the American racial order. Daedalus, 140(2), 151–165.
Hunt, M. O. (2007). African American, Hispanic, and white beliefs about black/white inequality, 1977–2004. American Sociological Review, 72(3), 390–415.
King, D. S., & Smith, R. M. (2011, September 2). On race, the silence is bipartisan. The New York Times, p. A21.
Krysan, M., & Faison, N. (2008). Racial attitudes in America: An update. Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois. http://igpa.uillinois.edu/programs/racial-attitudes/detailed8.
Logan, A., & Weller, C. E. (2009). The state of minorities: the recession issue. Center for American Progress. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/01/state_of_minorties.html.
Lopez, G., Sorensen, N., Gurin, P., & Nagda, B. A. (2011). Education through intergroup dialogue: Implications for understanding inequality. Unpublished manuscript, Syracuse University, Syracuse.
Matlock, J., Wade-Golden, K., & Gurin, G. (2007). Michigan student study guidebook. Ann Arbor, MI: Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives.
Moya, P. M. L., & Markus, H. R. (2010). Doing race: An introduction. In H. R. Markus & P. M. L. Moya (Eds.), Doing race: 21 essays for the 2lst century. New York: W.W. Norton.
Nagda, B. A. (2006). Breaking barriers, crossing boundaries, building bridges: Communication processes in intergroup dialogues. Journal of Social Issues, 62(3), 553–576.
Nagda, B. A., & Gurin, P. (2007). Intergroup dialogue: A critical-dialogic approach to learning about difference, inequality and social justice. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 111, 35–45.
Nagda, B. A., Gurin, P., Sorensen, N., & Zúñiga, X. (2009). Evaluating intergroup dialogue: Engaging diversity for social and personal responsibility. Diversity & Democracy, 12(1), 4–6.
National Urban League. (2009). The state of black America. New York: National Urban League.
Norton, M. I., & Sommers, S. R. (2011). Whites see racism as a zero-sum game that they are now losing. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(3), 215–218.
Valentine, J. C., & Cooper, H. (2003). Effect size substantive interpretation guidelines: Issues in the interpretation of effect sizes. Washington, DC: What Works Clearinghouse.
Walsh, K. C. (2007). Talking about race: Community dialogues and the politics of difference. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Zúñiga, X., Nagda, B. A., Chesler, M., & Cytron-Walker, A. (2007). Intergroup dialogues in higher education: Meaningful learning about social justice. ASHE Higher Education Report, 32(4), 1–128.
Acknowledgment
This study was supported by the grants from the W. T. Grant Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gurin, P., Sorensen, N., Lopez, G.E., Nagda, B.(.A. (2015). Intergroup Dialogue: Race Still Matters. In: Bangs, R., Davis, L. (eds) Race and Social Problems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0863-9_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0863-9_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-0862-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-0863-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)