Chapter 3: Racial Discrimination, Racial identity and Critical Consciousness: Does Racial Discrimination Catalyze Critical Consciousness?

• In Event: Ethnic Racial Identity

Abstract

Critical consciousness is the process through which Black youth develop awareness and self-efficacy beliefs to challenge social inequality, particularly racial oppression (Watts et al., 1999). A majority of critical consciousness studies center critical reflection at the expense of examining the full critical consciousness pathway (Jemal, 2017; Watts & Hipolito-Delgado, 2015). Additionally, few scholars explore potential antecedents for the critical consciousness pathway. Racial discrimination, or behaviors that devalue an individual’s worth based on their racial group membership (Benner et al., 2018), may serve as an entry point for Black youth’s critical consciousness (Aniywo et al., 2018; Mathews et al., 2019). Through conversation and shared experiences with Black peers, Black youth may see discriminatory events as representations of a system of racism rather than versus individual prejudice (Watts & Hipolito-Delgado, 2015). Yet, not all youth collaboratively process discriminatory experiences to make a larger critique of social inequality. In such cases, other factors, such as racial identity beliefs, may play a role in facilitating the critical consciousness process.
This study explores the associations between racial discrimination, racial identity, and critical consciousness. Drawing from racial identity and critical consciousness development theories, I examine how racial discrimination may initiate critical consciousness development in Black youth. Using racial identity as a moderator, I also assess how Black youth’s racial identity beliefs and awareness of Black racial stigma may strengthen the association between racial discrimination and critical consciousness. Five models were tested using structural equation modeling on a national sample of Black youth and emerging adults (N=634, ages 15-25) from the Black Youth Culture Survey. Findings indicate that more reported racial discrimination experiences are associated with higher critical reflection (structural attributions) around race. While racial identity beliefs showed significant direct effects with critical reflection, I found only weak support for hypothesized moderation effects. Political efficacy did not mediate the association between critical reflection and critical action. Study findings suggest that racial discrimination plays a critical role in developing systems thinking in Black youth and emerging adults and that racial identity beliefs may facilitate this connection for some youth. Findings also suggest the potential utility of future research to consider age and developmental variation in the study constructs and their associations.

Author

• Channing Jamielle Mathews, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Presenting Author