School Ethnic-Racial Socialization and Critical Action Among Black Youth

• In Event: Youths' Perception of Racial Identity and Social Inequities in School

Abstract

Understanding the ethnic-racial socialization of Black youth within schools is important, as improper socialization may stifle their critical action against oppressive forces, a form of resistance which has improved the plight of Black Americans for generations. Thus, I explore critical consciousness socialization (which emphasizes racial inequity; CCS), cultural socialization (which celebrates youth’s culture/s; CS), and color evasive socialization (which de-emphasizes race; CES). Hierarchical moderation analyses revealed that Black adolescents who perceived greater – but not those who perceived lesser – CES in their schooling and simultaneously perceived greater CCS engaged more frequently in critical action, suggesting that their CCS may have driven them to implicitly or explicitly identify high levels of CES as something to resist against through critical action.

Authors

• Gabrielle Kubi, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Christy M. Byrd, North Carolina State University

• Matthew Diemer, University of Michigan