White Guilt in the Summer of Black Lives Matter

Abstract

White guilt is a controversial topic that has been criticized on all sides of the political spectrum in the United States. In popular media, white guilt feelings have not been understood as productive, but rather as manipulative, futile, or superficial. In contrast to conventional critiques of white guilt, psychological research elucidates how individual and collective forms of guilt might be a force for good. For example, white guilt has been linked to prosocial outcomes such as support for affirmative action and willingness to confront white privilege. In this chapter, I draw on psychological research to consider under what conditions white guilt helps to explain white individuals’ support for Black Lives Matter during the summer of 2020.