Saving Face While (Not) Talking about Race

How Undergraduates Inhabit Racialized Structures at an Elite and Predominantly White College

Bibliographic Data

ID2244796
AuthorsIngrid A Nelson (0000-0001-5367-7603, Bowdoin College, corresponding author), Hannah J Graham (Bowdoin College), Natalie L Rudin (Bowdoin College)
Year2023
Volume70
Issue2
Pages456-473
Publication date2023-04-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Problems (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-7791 • E-ISSN: 1533-8533
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/socpro/spab045
OpenAlexW3200960394
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited44

Through a qualitative case study of an elite, predominantly White, liberal arts college, we find that the unmarked Whiteness of core organizational structures and practices socialized undergraduates to normalize segregation while commodifying diversity. Analysis of publicly available documents (webpages, student newspaper, speeches) and student interviews (n=57) revealed that individuals' attitudes were filtered through organizational structures. When students spoke about race, they tended to use two scripts: diversity script and/or naturalization of segregation script. Yet these culturally legitimated scripts were decoupled from organizational practices. Even though most students claimed to value diversity for its learning potential, many students believed social segregation was 'natural,' and either 'opted out' of conversations about race or 'opted in' to conversations within homogeneous friend groups to maintain respectability within tightly-knit, well-resourced campus networks. The decoupling of structures, scripts, and behaviors motivated undergraduates of all races to adopt White, elite norms for (not) talking about race, which we dub 'civilized diversity discourse.' Drawing on racialized organizations theory, we argue that the unmarked Whiteness of organizational structures-as well as the college's size and status-shaped students' scripts and behaviors in ways that ensure the enactment and entrenchment of racial ignorance and structural White supremacy

Diversity (politics) · Elite · Political science · Politics · Race (biology) · Scripting language · Sociology · White (mutation) · Anthropology · Communication in Education and Healthcare · Critical Race Theory in Education · Gender Studies · Higher Education Research Studies · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology