Privilege Under Threat: Color-Blindness, White Fragility, and School Choice in a Changing Suburban Community

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: The Impact of School Choice on Schools and Communities

Abstract

This study examines the school choice process for white parents living in previously all-white and middle class suburbs that have experienced rapid demographic change in recent years. This research is situated in the context of demographic change across the country, which has led to instability and anxiety among many white Americans who are finding their status as the racial majority as a whole and in their local communities to be threatened. I draw on literature and theory related to racial attitudes, white privilege, white fragility, and school choice to explore how white parents in these demographically changing suburban communities make sense of these changes, particularly in relation to their perception of and interaction with the local public schools.

Author

• Lauren Fox, Teachers College, Columbia University