Race' in psychology

Teaching the subject

Bibliographic Data

ID2145877
AuthorsK Henwood (0000-0002-4631-5468, Bangor University), A Phoenix (0000-0001-5382-8918, Birkbeck, University of London)
Year1996
Volume19
Issue4
Pages841-863
Publication date1996-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01419870.1996.9993938
OpenAlexW2009681323
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited48

This article addresses the ways in which the subject of 'race' is discussed in psychology and the issues this raises for teaching. It argues that psychological work provides contrary possibilities. On the one hand, it helps to reproduce negative racialized constructions of those constructed as Other (particularly black people). On the other, it allows challenges to such constructions. For example, the 'race' and IQ controversy, and the periodic recurrence of racialized hereditarianism, place teachers and students within narratives that both assert and rebut biological racism. The social psychology of prejudice and discrimination at times reifies culturally constructed racial difference and tacitly justifies subtle, cultural or 'new' forms of racism, while analyses of racist discourses demystify practices of (de)racialization. Aspects of wider social and institutional context, and different teacher and student positionings in the classroom, create fractures and ambiguities that further complicate the process of teaching the subject of 'race'. Keywords: PsychologyIQprejudiceracismdiscoursepositioningssituated knowledges

Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Linguistics · Narrative · Prejudice (legal term · Race (biology · Racialization · Racism · Sociology · Subject (documents · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Gender Studies · Innovative Education and Learning Practices · Psychology · Social Psychology