Teaching Racial Identity

Facilitating Racial Identity Development

Teaching racial identity is commonly referred to as facilitating racial identity development. A substantial body of literature addresses ways to promote positive racial identity development among individuals. Research has demonstrated relationships among the concepts of racial socialization, ethnic identity, perceptions of discrimination and racism, and acculturation. Facilitating racial identity is one part of the racial socialization process toward promoting positive racial identity development.

This topic has particular relevance to parents and teachers, because they play major roles in structuring children's daily experiences.

For many ethnic minorities, the development of a racial/ethnic identity becomes a central component of their overall identity formation process. Teaching racial identity (or racial socialization) describes the process of raising physically and emotionally healthy children through the development of a positive ethnic self-concept, an understanding of one's own and other racial groups, and an awareness of one's status within and between ethnic groups, as well as in society as a whole.

A significant amount of research has shown that racial socialization processes are related to increased academic performance and motivation, self-efficacy, and racial identity development, as well as to decreased violence and drug abuse. The process of racial socialization occurs through both implicit teaching (e.g., modeling behavior) and explicit teaching (e.g., verbalizations, deliberate exposure to particular experiences and environments) regarding being a member of a racial minority group in the United States. Parents, as children's first teachers, play a major part in the teaching of racial identity, although schools and peers also serve as socializing agents. Parents' philosophies about and attitudes toward their own racial identity seem to influence the way in which they approach teaching racial identity to their children. Professionals working with ethnic families may consider examining parents' attitudes toward and methods of teaching racial identity.

Framework for Teaching Racial Identity

The teaching of racial identity can be examined in terms of both frameworks of transmission and content of the message. Frameworks or a family's philosophy for approaching the teaching of racial identity can be categorized into three groups according to the degree to which teachings are Eurocentric versus culture-specific: (1) mainstream—valuing Eurocentric, middle-class culture and beliefs; (2) minority—communicating structural, [Page 454]institutional, and macroeconomic forces that affect minorities and their coping strategies; and (3) cultural— transmitting values specific to a culture (i.e., in terms of African Americans, spirituality, harmony, movement, verve, affect, communalism, expressive individualism, oral traditions, and social time perspective).

Examination of parents' socialization strategies through control of the community context in which their children develop has resulted in categorizing family frameworks as (1) race-conscious—actively seeking out same-race playmates and promoting involvement in cultural activities; (2) race-neutral— making no efforts to influence children's involvement with same- or other-race peers; (3) class-conscious— emphasizing the family's socioeconomic group as the major reference group; or (4) race-avoidant—distancing one's family from same-race individuals or entities.

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