Ethnic and Racial Identity Development

In almost every society, various social groups experience marginalization and stigmatization on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, immigration status, or (minority) culture. Education is generally offered as the primary pathway for minority youth to overcome their marginalization. However, whether or not minority youth will succeed in school is related, in part, to the identity dynamics they bring to the classroom. As a result, educators, social reformers, and policy experts consider it critical for one to grasp how identity development is experienced by minority youth. This entry looks at the development of social identity development (also referenced to as group identity or collective identity) for youth socially ascribed by race, ethnicity, and (minority) culture.

Upon reaching adolescence, all human beings possess a multidimensional personality and complex social identity. This means that depicting a person's personality requires reference to a series of personality traits (such as in describing a person to be socially shy and reserved, academically aggressive and highly motivated, sexually restrained and not open to experimentation, or reliable, trustworthy, and focused as an employee). Likewise, capturing the same person's social identity involves not one but a number of social categories (e.g., male, heterosexual, Baptist, Mississippian, Republican, father, and disabled). Despite the inherent psychological complexity of humanity, the larger society has a history of applying to people benign labels (short, blue-eyed, left-handed, bow-legged, etc.), and more important, politically and culturally loaded categories (such as White, Muslim, Black, Mexican, Jew, LBGT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender], and disabled), where such categories are meant to bestow privilege and advantage to some (Whites, males, middle class, etc.), and disadvantage, ascription, and stigma to others (Black, Muslim, LGBT, etc.).

How, then, do children and youth, who bear the burden of ethnic-racial-cultural social ascriptions, develop a healthy personality and positive social identity? The following is a synopsis of ethnic-racial-cultural social identity development, not personality development (although connected, they are not one and the same). The discussion of minority social identity development is organized [Page 829]around the following topics: (a) parental socialization of minority children, (b) contextual and individual difference factors that impact identity development, (c) the negative consequences of internalized oppression, (d) identity change and consciousness raising experiences, and (e) cultural renewal and cultural revitalization.