Racial Stereotyping and Child Development

Abstract

We know human biological diversity is occasioned by culture and ethnicity, not by race. There is as much or more variability within identified racial groups as there is between the ‘racial’ groups initially identified as humans entered the 20th century over 100 years ago. However, we also know that race, racial stratification, and racism continue today as enduring macrosocietal variables in the lives of children, their families, and peers. Emphasizing the personalsocial construction of race, scholars today prefer to study how children become racialized, inclusive of the contributions of political processes to the accompanying psychological development. Thus, racialization is construed as a situated process. Some scholars use the term ‘colorism’ to refer to various social practices used to racially stratify people informally. By definition, such stratification dictates individual cultural capital and resource allocation. This volume is partly designed to present and interrogate the research that some members of the Interdisciplinary Program in Human Development (ISHD) have conducted at the University of Pennsylvania, but more importantly, and by example, to stimulate theory and research on the topic of race and colorism by bringing together previously dispersed literature in a readerfriendly volume that highlights studies with promising concepts and methods. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel Significance of the Concept of ‘Race’ to Developmental Inquiry In the 21st century, scientists now know and acknowledge that the concept of race has no biogenetic basis [Cohen, 1998; Fisher, Jackson & Villarruel, 1998; Paabo, 2001; Segall, 1999]. Human biological diversity is occasioned by culture and ethnicity, not by race. There is as much or more variability within identified racial groups as there is between the ‘racial’ groups initially identified as humans entered the 20th century over 100 years ago. Further, this variability reaches deep into the previously thought homogeneous racial groups. However, despite wishful thinking [e.g., Wilson, 1978], we know that race, racial stratification, and racism continue today as enduring macrosocietal variables in the lives of children, their families, and peers. The legacy is particularly strong in cultures and nations (e.g., United States of America, South Africa) that have historically used race as an important, longterm principle of cultural and social organization [Franklin, 1968; Franklin, 1976; Franklin & Higginbotham, 2011; Gossett, 1970]. In such environments, children learn from caregivers and significant others how to cope with hostile racial environments [Chestang, D ow nl oa de d by : 20 7. 46 .1 3. 57 1 1/ 15 /2 01 6 4: 57 :4 2 A M