Learning to Respond Affectively to Prejudice and Racism: Discussion of Lynne Jacob’s “Learning to Love White Shame and Guilt: Skills for Working as a White Therapist in a Racially Divided Country”

Abstract

How do we understand culturally constructed norms of inequality that are grounded in an identity of “whiteness?” This article examines the pervasive “double-standard” of a society that is ostensibly based on the notion of equality, but that nevertheless sees “whites” as the norm. In this society the “other” person is defined in terms of “difference” and “difference” and is implicitly seen as “less-than.” I examine the nature of social location, and particularly what it means to be a member of the normative majority in a society in which racism is both widespread and overtly tolerated. I discuss ways to understand and respond to the emotions that maintain racist beliefs over time and across contexts.