Philip J. Mazzocco

The Cost of Being Black: White Americans’ Perceptions and the Question of Reparations

White Americans have long resisted the idea of reparations to the descendants of slaves. We examine the psychological basis of such resistance, primarily testing the possibility that resistance may be a function of Whites’ perception of the ongoing cost of being Black. White participants (n = 958) across twelve independent samples (varying in age, student status, and geographic location) were asked variations of the question: How much should you be paid to continue to live the remainder of your life as a Black person? Participants generally required low median amounts, less than

The Effects of a Prior Story-Bank on the Processing of a Related Narrative

10,000, to make the race change, whereas they requested high amounts,

‘Seen but not heard’. Practitioners work with poverty and the organising out of disadvantaged children’s voices and participation in the early years

1,000,000, to give up television. To the extent that larger amounts were requested, support for reparations also increased. Attempts to educate participants about Black cost0White privilege had negligible effects on assessments of the cost of being Black and support for reparations. Together, these results suggest that White resistance to reparations for Black Americans stems from fundamental biases in estimating the true cost of being Black. The implications of our findings for color-blind and multi-culturalist conceptual approaches are discussed.

Reconstructing teacher education: a praxeological approach to pre-service teacher education

Two studies tested whether the possession of a mental story-bank (a set of thematically related narratives) affected the processing of a related narrative. Three competing predictions were proposed: a story-bank may lead to reduced attention, increased attention, or selective attention to a new, related story. The results of Study 1 (N = 125 undergraduates) suggested that a prior story-bank led to more efficient processing of a target narrative (as indicated by recall data), favoring a selective attention interpretation. Study 2 (N = 114 undergraduates) showed that individuals who possessed a relevant story-bank were more persuaded by a related target narrative, also consistent with the selective attention interpretation. Story-banks thus appeared to facilitate, rather than hinder, processing of new narratives.

Race and Colorblindness: A Historical Overview

ABSTRACT Living in poverty disadvantages young children reducing school readiness. ‘Pedagogy of listening’ can potentially support resilience remediating against poverty’s negative effects. Little, though, is known about how early childhood education and care (ECEC) practitioners work with children in poverty and the attainment gap between such children and their peers remains significant within England and the US. This article reports research using a mixed methodology which explored these issues in localities across both these countries. We argue a dominant technocratic model of early years provision in these contexts creates normalisation and diversity reduction. This, and austerity measures, stymie pedagogical space and practice organising out listening to children in poverty. We suggest this may help explain why the attainment gap remains so stubbornly resistant to reduction across these countries.

Building a Conceptual Network Around Colorblindness

Praxeological-learning has emerged as a potential theoretical framework that has considerable potential to support and improve teacher education preparation programs. This article presents a study with participative research on early childhood with four groups of students. In response to new twenty-first century Teaching Standards and enhanced field experiences, pre-service teacher (PST) education candidates at a regional campus in the Midwest engaged in academic praxeological-learning, which offered the opportunity to increase content mastery and reinforce pedagogical skills through authentic experiences. Results indicate that students participating in this type of learning believed their experiences contributed positively to pedagogical skill development, self-actualisation, and social and moral development. The impact on our teacher education program and the relevance of these findings for training the next generation of educators is discussed.

Colorblind Impacts: Individual, Interactional, and Societal

To provide context for the modern day colorblind ideology, Chapter 2 recounts the decidedly color-conscious history of race in the U.S. This review demonstrates that policies and legislation that are formally colorblind have generally produced color-coded outcomes that harm minorities. A corresponding historical review specific to the genesis and progression of the colorblind ideology over time follows. This latter review demonstrates that the modern colorblind ideology was strategically designed in the midst of the Civil Rights movement to garner conservative political support by frustrating the aims of racial justice contingents.

The Reality of Racial Inequality in America

The preceding chapters challenged arguably the two most-commonly cited rationales for colorblindness: namely, the idea that we can be colorblind due to perceived racial equality ( Chapters 5 and 6) and the notion that we should be colorblind due to the perceived efficacy of colorblind policies ( Chapters 7 and 8). Chapter 9 examines additional factors that may underlie racial colorblindness. These include underlying motivational factors, such as racial prejudice, demographic factors, such as age and race, and ideological orientations (e.g., political orientation, preference for social hierarchies). The chapter concludes with a comparison between racial colorblindness and an array of related constructs.

Challenging Colorblindness and Future Directions

One of the primary justifications of the colorblind mentality is that racial categorization inevitably leads to stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. Further, racial categorization is commonly presumed to produce interracial conflict and stigmatization of minorities. Chapter 7 examines the consequences of racial colorblindness within the realms of basic person perception, interracial interactions, and society at large. Consistently, racial colorblindness has been found to create negative consequences for racial minorities compared to color-conscious alternatives. This chapter elucidates some of the factors underlying this harmful impact by examining relevant social-scientific research.

Colorblind Measures and Inductions

One of the most commonly invoked defenses of the colorblind ideology is that contemporary society has achieved an acceptable level of racial equality. A corresponding notion is that if we have not yet achieved a state of equal outcomes, we have at least achieved “opportunity equality.” In truth, society continues to be plagued by both racial and opportunity inequality. In Chapter 5, a brief summary of the reality of racial inequality and opportunity gaps is presented.