Happy MLK Day. People tolerate racism far more than they think they do.

Happy MLK day. People tolerate racism far more than they think they do. Maybe you already saw this release, but it’s worth repeating:

Kawakami K, Dunn E, Karmali F, Dovidio JF, “Mispredicting Affective and Behavioral Responses to Racism,”  Science. 323:276-80, 1.09.09:

Contemporary race relations are marked by an apparent paradox: Overt prejudice is strongly condemned, yet acts of blatant racism still frequently occur. We propose that one reason for this inconsistency is that people misunderstand how they would feel and behave after witnessing racism. The present research demonstrates that although people predicted that they would be very upset by a racist act, when people actually experienced this event they showed relatively little emotional distress. Furthermore, people overestimated the degree to which a racist comment would provoke social rejection of the racist. These findings suggest that racism may persevere in part because people who anticipate feeling upset and believe that they will take action may actually respond with indifference when faced with an act of racism.

Anti-Sociopath Activism: Step up to the plate and call it out.

There is blatant racism, and maybe the reason for not responding more is that it’s sort of a joke: who would be overtly racist in this day and age? Someone out of touch. Someone in their dotage (Dr. Watson’s hateful comments about black intelligence come to mind. . . ).  Maybe an upper-cruster. Prince Harry called a fellow military man a “Paki”, apparently called someone else a “towelhead” and previously wanted to dress up as a Nazi. Readers of TMZ.com gave him a pass:

And there are Republican National Committee members who just looked like a spoof of Republican National Committee members.  I don’t dismiss the horribly offensive materials about Pres-elect Obama, but seriously, these guys looked like Dumb and Dumber, or else your mean grandmother who lives in Orange County.

Others argue we’re post-racism.  This I get. There is “class–ism” — the have’s want to pull up the ladder and say “I got mine.” And so this is where the prejudicial aromas waft in.

Prejudice is subtle. It’s ingrained.

Who’s going to stand up for the black pregnant female who doesn’t get a raise when everyone else does? (Maybe not in this environment. . . ) She’ll never know. Why put your neck out and risk your job, especially when it’s musical chairs — and she may come back from maternity leave and angle for my job. (Just an illustration).

So, prejudice does exist, but when everyone is suspicious of everyone else, then is it racism any more or just a generalized paranoia?

The other thing is that perhaps it’s not so much individual racism,  but the group affinity. Even though individuals may not be prejudiced, the social affinity is too important – no one wants to be ostracized from their group. Ideally group members who are ostracized for stepping up against prejudice have an even better group of cooler people to belong to.

I think that will happen Tuesday.

Tags: antisocial, bias, martin luther king, MLK, prejudice, racism, racist, social psychology, social science