Artwork by Titus Kaphar:

“Enough About You”

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Dr Glen Jankowski

LECTURE: RACISM & g.Jankowski@leedsbeckett
.ac.uk
THE INDIVIDUAL
 THIS WEEK’S LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
Learning Objective Source
• This lecture
Understand the social • Reading
construction of race
• This lecture
Analyse and synthesize both • Reading
historical and contemporary
forms of racism in order to
define racism
• This lecture
Apply this understanding to
consider the impact of racism
on individuals and groups

Disclaimer:
• The knowledge in this presentation comes from activist online
generously sharing this publicly.
• Also this content IS disturbing at times.
• Flying overview only.
OVERVIEW
The need to understand racism (recap)
Racism in the Criminal Justice System (5 min
Spy Cop video)
Racism in Employment & Education
Racism in Media (2 min White Terrorism video)
Racism’s impact on individuals & groups
Summary
 THE NEED TO
UNDERSTAND
RACISM (RECAP)
Evidence of decreasing
understanding of racism
e.g., in US (Kraus, Rucker
& Richeson, 2017)
E.g., in UK: Mohdin
(2018)
Adolph Reed (2009; para 5) notes
how psychology has individualized
racism: "postwar psychologists…
depoliticize[ed] the critique of
racial injustice.”
Sources:
Kraus, Rucker & Richeson (2017). Americans misperceive racial economic equality. PNAS, 114, 39, 10324-10331
Modhin, A. (2018, 20th December). Up to 40% Britons think BAME people do not face more discrimination. The Guardian. Accessed on 21st January 2019 from
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/20/up-to-40-of-britons-think-bame-people-do-not-face-more-discrimination?CMP=share_btn_tw&__twitter_impression=true
Saini, A. ‘Racism Is Creeping Back into Mainstream Science – We Have to Stop It | Angela Saini’. The Guardian, 22 January 2018, sec. Opinion. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/22/eugenics-racism-mainstream-science.
———. ‘The Disturbing Return of Scientific Racism’. Wired UK, 12 June 2019. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/superior-the-return-of-race-science-angela-saini.
Jankowski, G. S. ‘Students’ Understanding and Support for Anti ‐racism in Universities’. British Journal of Social Psychology, 13 July 2021, bjso.12482. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12482.
OVERVIEW
The need to understand racism (recap)
Racism in the Criminal Justice System (5 min
Spy Cop video)
Racism in Employment & Education
Racism in Media (2 min White Terrorism video)
Racism’s impact on individuals & groups
Summary
RACISM IN THE
Source: http://www.wnyc.org/story/object-anyway/

CRIMINAL JUSTICE
SYSTEM: JUROR
SELECTION
RACISM IN THE CRIMINAL
JUSTICE SYSTEM: PRISON

US [1]
Similar issue in UK [2]
Sources:
[1] 13th [documentary]
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/oct/11/black-prison-population-increase-england
RACISM IN THE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
SYSTEM: UK PRISONS

Sources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41191311
Http://www.artefactmagazine.com/2017/02/03/ignoring-police-brutality-uk/
RACISM IN THE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
SYSTEM: THE POLICE
Police were “institutionally racist”
(MacPherson report, 1999)

Peter Francis said he posed as an anti-racist

activist to undermine those arguing for a better
investigation into the murder.
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/23/stephen-lawrence-undercover-polic
e-smears
 RACISM IN THE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
SYSTEM: THE POLICE

https://youtu.be/zcGM8gBFFdY
5 min video
RACISM IN THE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
SYSTEM: THE
David Oluwale (1930 – 1969) POLICE

Sources: [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-

See also leeds charity: ‘DOMA’
london-28248588
RACISM IN THE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
SYSTEM: THE POLICE
Stop & Search evidence of police
racism [1] (& note doesn’t reduce
criminality) [2]
Also happened to Stuart Lawrence [3]

Sources: [1]
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/sep/21/stop-and-search-still-targets-black-peo
ple-police-watchdog-admits
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/mar/17/mass-stop-and-search-police-
crime-study
[3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24508066
INSTITUTIONAL RACISM
- POLICE BRUTALITY
RACISM IN THE CRIMINAL
JUSTICE SYSTEM: THE POLICE

Sources: [1]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings/?tid=a_i
nl

[2] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/tout-haiti/tIp6Loaf--s
OVERVIEW
The need to understand racism (recap)
Racism in the Criminal Justice System (5 min
Spy Cop video)
Racism in Employment & Education
Racism in Media (2 min White Terrorism video)
Racism’s impact on individuals & groups
Summary
RACISM:
EDUCATION
Quant studies

"We have these really

bright students coming to
a place… yet (they) are
coming out with worse
outcomes than their white
colleagues”
Source:
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/mind-dont-dismiss-the-BAME-attainment-gap/421914.arti
cle
Jankowski, G S. “The ‘Race’Awarding Gap: What Can Be Done?” Psychology of Women Section Review
3, no. 1 & 2 (2020): 15–23.
NUS and Universities UK. “Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Student Attainment at UK Universities:
#closingthegap.” Universities UK, May 2019. Professor Aneez Esmail
https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Pages/bame-student-attainment-uk-univers
ities-closing-the-gap.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1SyhMVElMJURVupBDArtLblh4kyWLCzi8X-p7HBIthFD722 (University of
 Mixed methods
study
Potential research idea?
How best to get staff to
listen to BAME student
concerns?

RACISM: EDUCATION
NUS BLACK STUDENTS RESEARCH
(2012)
Survey data (N = 938 Black students)
Qual data (Focus groups with NUS Black
students delegates)

https://www.nus.org.uk/en/news/race-for-
equality/
RACISM: PAY GAP
EMPLOYMENT RACISM:
OTHER RESEARCH

Sources
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38751307
[2] http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0001839216639577 ]
[3] http://www.natcen.ac.uk/media/20541/test-for-racial-discrimination.pdf
EMPLOYMENT RACISM:
OTHER RESEARCH
OVERVIEW
The need to understand racism (recap)
Racism in the Criminal Justice System (5 min
Spy Cop video)
Racism in Employment & Education
Racism in Media (2 min White Terrorism video)
Racism’s impact on individuals & groups
Summary
POOR MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS
OF BAME PEOPLE

Vogue: “This is the first time a Black man has

been on our front cover….We sought to celebrate
two superstars at the top of their game"
POOR MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS
OF BAME PEOPLE
Historically few & limited
black characters e.g., 10
Black actress Oscar
winners

Latterly better
representation but still few
(~2015+; below)

https://mashable.com/article/hattie-mcdaniel-oscars-history-angela-bassett#:~:text=In%20total%2C%20only
%2010%20Black,12%20Years%20a%20Slave)%2C%20Viola
 POOR MEDIA
REPRESENTATIONS OF
BAME PEOPLE

[1] https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/sun-rubbishes-claims-its-off-field-coverage-
of-footballer-raheem-sterling-is-racist-as-ridiculous-and-offensive/
POOR MEDIA
REPRESENTATIONS OF
BAME PEOPLE
POOR MEDIA
REPRESENTATIONS OF
BAME PEOPLE
Murderer & terrorists vs murder victim

Credit: The New Arab:

https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/indepth/
2016/6/17/jo-cox-killing-the-medias-whitewashing-
of-white-terror
 Source: https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2014/01/17/picturing-mark-
duggan/

POOR MEDIA
REPRESENTATIONS OF
BAME PEOPLE
 POOR MEDIA
REPRESENTATIONS OF
BAME PEOPLE

Source: https://www.vox.com/world/2017/10/2/16396612/las-vegas-mass-shooting-terrorism-islam

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/us/tally-of-attacks-in-us-challenges-perceptions-of-top-terror-threat.html
POOR MEDIA
REPRESENTATIONS OF
BAME PEOPLE

Video (1 min 33 sec) video: https://twitter.com/cjwerleman/status/829903439782047746

OVERVIEW
The need to understand racism (recap)
Racism in the Criminal Justice System (5 min
Spy Cop video)
Racism in Employment & Education
Racism in Media (2 min White Terrorism video)
Racism’s impact on individuals & groups
Summary
 IMPACT: SELF ESTEEM
& RACIAL
IDENTIFICATION
Clarke & Clarke (1939)
Method
Participants Measures Procedure
253 Black US children
(aged 3-7)
- 134 from segregated
nurseries (from the
South)
- 119 from integrated
schools (from the
North)
IMPACT: SELF-ESTEEM
& RACIAL
IDENTIFICATION
Results
 IMPACT: SELF ESTEEM
& RACIAL
IDENTIFICATION
“The Dolls Test was an attempt on the part of
my wife and me to study the development of
the sense of self-esteem in children.

We worked with black children to see the

extent to which their color, their sense of their
own race and status, influenced their
judgment about themselves, self-esteem”.

Source: http://www.naacpldf.org/brown-at-60-
the-doll-test
IMPACT ON WHITE PEOPLE
IMPACT ON BAME PEOPLE
POTENTIAL IMPACT ON
BAME PEOPLE
 ‘A colonized mind’
 ‘A colonized gaze’
My father was also belligerent toward all of the children,
except me. [...]Most [Black] parents in those days would
almost instinctively treat any lighter children better than
they did the darker ones. (MALCOLM X 1.12)
• Harassment & abuse

Source: Home Office https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652136/hate-crime-1617-hosb1717.pdf /

 IMPACT OF
ISLAMOPHOBIA
Asian people may be impacted through
their stereotyping as terrorists.
See the following examples:
1. Ahmed Mohammad ‘Clock boy’.
2. School kid (10): “I live in a terrorist
house”
3. Asian people speaking or reading
Arabic on a plane have been ejected
4. Asian students in HE (Prevent)
 IMPACT OF
ISLAMOPHOBIA
Hobbs, W. & Lajevardi, N. (2018) aimed to assess
“How Arab and Muslim Americans responded to
the climate of anti-Muslim hostility throughout the
2016 campaign season?”.

Method:
1. Survey self report data
2. Number of location-tweets from Arabic sounding
name profiles (see graph)

Source:
@NazitaLajevardi / Dr
Nazita Lajevardi Hobbs, W. & Lajevardi, N. (2018). Effects of Divisive Political Campaigns on the Day-to-Day Segregation of Arab and Muslim Americans. Doi: 10.1017/S0003055418000801
(Michigan State Mauleon, E. (2018). Black Twice: Policing Black Muslim Identities, UCLA Law Review, 65, 5, 1326-1390. [For a discussion of the intersection of anti-Blackness and islamophobia].
University)
IMPACT OF
ISLAMOPHOBIAHobbs, W. & Lajevardi, N. (2018).

Source:
Hobbs, W. & Lajevardi, N. (2018). Effects of Divisive Political Campaigns on the Day-to-Day Segregation of Arab and Muslim Americans. Doi: 10.1017/S0003055418000801
Mauleon, E. (2018). Black Twice: Policing Black Muslim Identities, UCLA Law Review, 65, 5, 1326-1390. [For a discussion of the intersection of anti-Blackness and islamophobia].
IMPACT ON GROUPS,
INTERACTION
 Racism affects interpersonal
interactions, group dynamics, how we
organize etc.
 E.g., Interracial marriages historically
outlawed (see ‘Loving’ film)
 E.g., sexual racism (dating), workplace
discrimination (relationships among
colleagues etc.)
OVERVIEW
The need to understand racism (recap)
Racism in the Criminal Justice System (5 min
Spy Cop video)
Racism in Employment & Education
Racism in Media (2 min White Terrorism video)
Racism’s impact on individuals & groups
Summary
 SUMMARY
 Racism is a cyclical, systematic and intersecting system with
historical roots
 It morphs into different forms (e.g., exclusion of Black jurors
leads to harsher punishments for Black defendants)
 Intersections: many e.g., class, gender
 Racism is a key way to understand the individual and
interpersonal realm
 E.g., Newspaper’s anti-immigrant myths represents another
way to understand the individual, groups & society by
analysing racist ‘talk’ that circulates between these layers of
interactions
READING = PLEASE SEE
MYBECKETT ‘READING LIST ’
Supplementary short video on the social construction of race:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160621034352/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qaWp8_z81w
WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT RACIST
HARASSMENT – BE AN ALLY OR GET
SUPPORT
If you witness or are subjected to a hate
crime you can report it:
e.g., Stop Hate UK,
British transport police (when on public
transport)

For allyship you may also want to check

out the hashtags:
#IllWalkwithyou
#RefugeesWelcome