Ambivalent White Racial Consciousness: Examining Intersectional Reflection and Complexity in Practitioner Graduate Training

Abstract

Ambivalent white racial consciousness describes a push towards awareness about racial privilege and a simultaneous pull back from this knowledge into a more comfortable stance of denial. Twenty-nine White community members and undergraduate students participated in focus group discussions on race. Results indicated that participants expressed ambivalent racial consciousness when they talked about: what it means to be White, their non-racial identities, oppression, attributions for racial inequality, and interracial interactions. Deconstructing ambivalent white racial consciousness can help trainers identify points of intervention for White graduate student practitioners to critically reflect on the intersections between white racial identity and systemic oppression.

Collins and Bilge (2016) framed intersectional theory as requiring two factors: critical inquiry and critical praxis. They emphasized that these two essential elements continuously inform and build on the other to elevate both intersectional scholarship and practical application of theory. Collins and Bilge (2016) further urged the rejection of the false dichotomy that pits scholar against activist in favor of sustaining “a focus on the synergy linking ideas and actions, on the interrelatedness of inquiry and praxis” (p. 33). They clarified that praxis and scholarship must be enacted together to resist the temptation to falsely separate the two or see them as mutually exclusive. In direct contrast to traditional positivist science, intersectional theory demands that scholars engage with social justice by applying their critical questions to the world beyond academia. For example, social psychology studies linking personality traits to various forms of racial prejudice without application to dismantling institutional racism, informing public policy, or reducing race health disparities fail to engage in critical praxis. Similarly, our research complicating white¹ racial psychology can be harnessed to inform critical praxis in graduate training for counseling and therapeutic settings.

Speaking to transformative potential, Collins and Bilge (2016) asked educators to consider the implications of intersectional critical inquiry for advancing education. We argue that critical education of graduate student practitioners in training requires reflection on their own social locations (Case, 2015; Hays, Chang, & Havince, 2008). Through educational application of intersectionality, instructors can facilitate what Case (2017) conceptualizes as zooming in to focus on single-axis privilege and its impact on psychology and zooming out that makes visible the interactions across and within systems of oppression. The current study informs purposeful zooming in for critical inquiry of ambivalent white racial consciousness to inform critical praxis of both White practitioners and practitioners of color. Ambivalent white racial consciousness includes two elements: (a) a push towards awareness of racism and racial privilege (i.e., racial consciousness) and (b) a simultaneous pull back from this knowledge into a more comfortable stance of denial. These distancing strategies create contradictions that maintain racist social structures. A more complex understanding of ambivalent white racial consciousness via an intersectional lens provides practitioners with new tools for engagement with clients from all racial backgrounds. As described by Case (2015), critical intersectional reflection on whiteness and white privilege can be harnessed to promote an effective “therapeutic ally-ance” (p. 264).

For the purposes of this analysis, we rely on Bonilla-Silva’s (2003) systemic definition of whiteness as “embodied racial power” through the “visible uniform of the dominant racial group” (p. 271). Also helpful to our analyses, within her intersectional critique of white women’s racial identities, Frankenberg (1993) described whiteness as a triad of structural privilege or advantage, a standpoint that influences perceptions, and invisible cultural values and practices.

Intersectional Critical Praxis

Although the term “intersectionality” became popular after Kimberle Crenshaw’s (1989) paper analyzing Black women’s legal status and failure of court systems to recognize their unique location as targets of interconnected racism and sexism, the main tenants of intersectional theory were introduced decades earlier. The scholarly contributions by Black (Lorde, 1984), Chicana (Anzaldúa, 1987), indigenous (Gunn Allen, 1986), lesbian (Rich, 1986), and international (Mohanty, 1984) feminists provided strong critiques of White, middle-class, heterosexual, and U.S. privilege within feminist academic and activist work (Case, 2017; Grzanka, 2014). These scholars challenged their fields by advocating for critiques of power relations, analyzing institutional and structural barriers faced by marginalized communities, and engaging with communities working for social justice.

Foundational tools of intersectional theory facilitate practitioners’ recognition of structural barriers clients face, centering marginalized voices, valuing subjugated knowledge, and acting for social justice. Understanding whiteness and intersectional social location alters the lens of the White practitioner (both women and men). White practitioners are limited in their ability to serve women of color clients (and men of color) if they fail to engage with both intersectional critical inquiry into their own white ambivalent racial consciousness and critical praxis within the therapeutic setting.

How do social scientists and educators begin to understand Whites who recognize problems with systemic racism, yet defend their normative white privilege as disconnected from racism? For example, a White male counseling psychology student expresses his support for immigrant families torn apart and deported, but also denies his white privilege due to his blue collar family’s background. Graduate training of practitioners must infuse more complicated theories of white psychology and white racial consciousness that break down the false dichotomy of racist versus anti-racist. If educators apply intersectional theory’s emphasis on structural forces and power relations, they will challenge ideas of whiteness as identity-based and individual-level as the sole focus. Whites struggling with the cognitive dissonance of ambivalent racial consciousness need tools to analyze structures and institutional-level interactions. Intersectional critical inquiry can help them move past ambivalence to a deeper understanding of their social location in the matrix of domination and co-constitutive systems of inequity.

Challenging the False Dichotomy of White Psychology: Ambivalent White Racial Consciousness

Social scientists have become rigid in our simplistic conceptualizations of white racial consciousness –similar to the popular terminology of “wokeness.” In order to advance the dismantling of whiteness, as described by critical white studies scholars (Delgado & Stefancic, 1997; Wildman & Davis, 1997), we propose framing white racial consciousness as a complicated and often contradictory psychological space. Although theories of white racial identity development (Helms, 1990; Lensmire, 2010; Tatum, 2017) acknowledge the convoluted nature of the journey to anti-racism, in practice, scholars often reduce white racial consciousness to a false dichotomy: racist or anti-racist. These expectations of the “perfect” White ally result in construction of the false dichotomy of either completely racially unaware or completely anti-racist ally.

These expectations of white ally perfection may lead to ambivalent racial consciousness performances that may hinder development of white racial consciousness. For example, White women afraid of being labeled racist may subconsciously avoid interacting with people of color or situations that might increase their awareness of privilege (e.g., professional development workshops on microaggressions). The false dichotomy and unreasonable expectation (whether real or perceived) of never making mistakes leaves White individuals struggling to make sense of race and racial tensions and performing choreographed white racial gymnastics and contortionism. As they attempt to navigate cultural shifts in discussions of race (e.g., Black Lives Matter), Whites may juggle guilt, recognition of discrimination against people of color, unconscious racial stereotypes, an internal drive to be accepting of diversity, the urge to claim colorblindness, concerns about saying “the wrong thing,” acknowledgement of their own privilege, and more. These seemingly contradictory aspects of white racial psychology deserve attention within scholarly analyses of whiteness and graduate training of future clinicians.

These individuals appear to occupy a space that combines or perhaps toggles between Helms’ (1990) White racial identity statuses of disintegration and pseudo-independence. In other words, they may acknowledge whiteness and begin questioning racial myths (disintegration) and yet continue to center whiteness as the norm and view people of color as responsible for changing (pseudo-independence) (Carter, 1997; Helms, 1990). Disintegration can be described as moving away from racism or putting distance between the white self and racism as a system of oppression (Carter, 1997; Helms, 1990). In contrast, pseudo-independence indicates the beginning of efforts to seek information about fighting racism (Carter, 1997). Whites located in this ambivalent space seem unaware of hegemonic whiteness that centers their own culture and experiences (Dottolo & Stewart, 2012; Hughey, 2010). Applying this ambivalence to Hardiman’s (1982) model, Whites may vacillate between the stages of acceptance of racism and identification with whiteness and resistance to racist beliefs and white supremacy. Under Ponterotto’s (1988) model, ambivalent white racial consciousness involves complex combinations of the exposure and the zealot stages. To advance the development of white racial consciousness, research and teaching tools must aid the pursuit of more complex analyses. Lensmire (2010) warned against essentializing whiteness in favor of recognizing ambivalent white identity. Moving beyond essentialism of whiteness may open new doors to advancing white intersectional anti-racist consciousness.

To provide spaces for complicating the over-simplified dichotomy of white psychology, researchers need tools for analyzing the complexity of ambivalent white racial consciousness. We propose explicitly analyzing not only indicators of moving away from recognition of racism (e.g., distancing and avoidance), but also examples of moving toward anti-racism (e.g., awareness of privilege). In preparation for our qualitative analyses of White participants’ comments (current study below), we acknowledged that seemingly contradictory perspectives often reside in the same person, even within the same sentence, as an outward expression of internal psychological ambivalence.

“Moving Away” from the Reality of Racism

White individuals use a myriad of strategies to increase the distance between themselves and acknowledgement of systemic racism. By moving away, Whites avoid understanding systemic racism and escape feeling implicated by their own privilege and inaction. Moving away can signify psychological, emotional, and even physical movement away from the realities of racism, such as the negative consequences for people of color. Case and Hemmings (2005) described “white distancing strategies” that result from learning “racist = bad person,” a lesson that perpetuates the narrow focus on extreme blatant racism and results in Whites maneuvering around race to separate the self from the “racist/bad” label. Case and Hemmings (2005) identified silence (e.g., refusal to participate in class discussions; fear of offending someone), disassociation from the racist label (“I’m a good person”), color-blind ideology, and separation from responsibility (e.g., victim blaming; framing racism as only in the past; claims of reverse discrimination) as the main strategies among White women pre-service teachers. Scholarship on white color-blindness (Bonilla-Silva, 2003; Neville, Lilly, Duran, Lee, & Browne, 2000) documents the problematic nature of claims that “everyone’s the same” and “I treat everyone as equal” (Case & Hemmings, 2005, p. 617). Social psychologists highlighted “symbolic racism” (i.e., attitudes and behaviors based on supposedly nonracial factors that maintain white supremacy) as a way for Whites to move away from overt racism, thus deflecting attention from their own privilege and more subtle forms of systemic racism (Kinder & Sears, 1981, McConahay & Hough, 1976). Symbolic racism tends to overlap with white distancing strategies of disassociation from the racist label and separation from responsibility. Similarly, using a term coined by Gans (1979), Waters (1996) described the tendency for Whites to adopt “symbolic ethnicities” to avoid being implicated in discussions of racism. In his own experiences facilitating anti-racism workshops, Kivel (2002) found Whites began moving away from the discussion by identifying as Italian and blatantly declaring, “I’m not White.” Although these movements away from awareness present challenges, the same individuals may also exhibit subtle signs of understanding that offer entry into anti-racist consciousness.

“Moving Toward” Anti-Racist Consciousness

Whereas moving away distancing strategies establish psychological distance between the self and racism, moving toward brings Whites psychologically closer to racism with attention to privilege and power. In her study of the anti-racist discussion group, White Women Against Racism, Case (2012) found that White women moved toward anti-racism by recognizing parallels between sexism and systemic racism, as well as identifying how gender expectations functioned to keep them silent about racism. Whites may also recognize holes in color-blind racism’s “logic” or begin to perceive the self as intertwined with racial inequality by recognizing privilege or empathizing with movements led by people of color (e.g., environmental racism and indigenous protests of the Dakota pipeline). Again, ambivalent white racial consciousness recognizes seemingly conflicting attitudes within the same person. For example, a White woman training to be a clinician enrolled in an assessment course denies her own white privilege, but admits intelligence tests may contain culturally-specific knowledge that disadvantages Black and Latinx students. If educators can identify these moving toward moments and cultivate reflective learning opportunities, students may critically analyze moving away behaviors and increase their moving toward efforts.

The Current Study: Capturing the (Ambivalent) Potential for Growth

Our study examines whether White individuals might engage in distancing strategies that deny or deflect from their racial privilege while also having an awareness of racial inequality and even a desire for anti-racist racial consciousness. We term this contradiction of moving away from awareness of racism and moving toward racial consciousness an ambivalent racial consciousness. We suggest that rather than thinking of this ambivalence as a failure in racial consciousness, we might conceptualize it as a glimmer of hope for anti-racism and a potential point of intervention. That is, if an individual begins with an awareness of racial inequality and their own white privilege, then perhaps the tendency to avoid could be remolded so that Whites who want to disassociate from racism are trained with new skills and tools for moving toward more sophisticated anti-racist analyses and actions. These ambivalent racial consciousness moments deserve more analysis and attention to bring practitioner graduate training more in touch with how white psychology can move toward anti-racism and white racial consciousness. In other words, making room for complex moving away and moving toward may open new avenues for facilitating the development of racially-conscious and critical practitioners. Thus, the present study was an exploratory qualitative investigation using focus group methods and inductive thematic analysis to answer the following questions:

1. How do White people exhibit evidence for “moving away” and “moving toward” anti-racist consciousness?

2. Do White people exhibit evidence of ambivalence around white racial consciousness and if so, how are these patterns expressed?

Method

Participants

Twenty-nine self-identified White people participated in six focus groups. There were three focus groups for White women (n = 17) and three for White men (n = 12). In total, participants ranged in age from 18 to 81, with an average age of 36.38 (SD = 21.27). Sixteen participants were between 18 – 25 years of age, six participants were between 26 – 55 years of age, and seven participants were over the age of 56. Fifty-two percent were employed at least part-time, and 17.2% worked full-time. Many participants were currently traditional full-time college students and did not work full-time. A few participants were retired. Fifty-nine percent of participants had completed some college, and many self-identified as working and middle-class (83%).

Procedures

Two focus groups consisted of participants recruited from a psychology department participant pool (for course credit), and four groups included individuals recruited from the local Midwestern community (compensated $20). Two White men led the focus groups for White male participants, and two White women led the focus groups for White female participants. All sessions lasted two hours and were audio and video-taped with the approval of participants. They also completed a demographic questionnaire and signed an informed consent prior to the session in accordance with university IRB approval.

Interview Guide and Data Analysis

We employed a semi-structured guided interview protocol to ensure consistency across groups. We analyzed focus group data using an inductive thematic approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The primary analytic aim was to understand whether and how participants engaged in “moving away” and “moving toward” racial consciousness. We explored any expressed patterns of ambivalence around white racial consciousness. Three coders initially read the transcripts from each focus group to familiarize themselves with the data. Each then separately developed inductive codes for one group transcript. The initial codes were collated and refined during group meetings to create a cohesive coding framework. Each coder used the framework to separately analyze the remaining five transcripts. The coders then met to group the codes into primary themes. Inter-rater reliability reached a kappa of 0.75 or above for each theme.

Reflexivity allows for greater trustworthiness in the research process (Morrow, 2005). All data were coded by three women: the first who identifies as White, the second as Black multiracial, and the third as Black. The coders had extensive experience with qualitative research design, thematic analysis, and research studies examining racial identity, power, and privilege. Following the coding, two of the coders (first and third authors) invited the second author, a White woman with expertise in Whiteness and anti-racism, to collaborate on the analysis and interpretation of the emergent themes. The academic social location of the three authors, as social justice-focused scholars of racism, enhances our likelihood of interpreting the data as reflecting both racism and anti-racism. To address this, we sought examples of negative cases in the data; doing so actually supported our theory of ambivalent racial consciousness. Further, we provide many quotes to allow readers to draw their own interpretations of the data.

Results

What Does it Mean to be White?

As described in the following two themes, participants demonstrated ambivalent racial consciousness when they shared beliefs that whiteness is unimportant and without meaning while simultaneously acknowledging their white privilege, which is predicated on the fact that whiteness is important and meaningful, although unmarked.

Moving away: Denying race.

One way White participants demonstrated a lack of racial consciousness was by denying their White race as important or meaningful. Some of the comments reflected a color-blind ideology (Neville et al., 2000), for example when Elise² (Age 60, Project Administrator) said: “I don’t think about being White as being a big part of who I am. I am who I am. I’m me.” Largely, this invisibility was attributed to whiteness being indistinct and normative, the group to which all other racial groups were compared, such as when Adrienne (Age 22, College Student) said: “It seems like we’re always viewed as average. …It seems like no one really thinks anything about White people. They’re just there to compare [to].” Participants further indicated that they mostly occupy spaces where White people are the majority or that are racially homogenous, wherein their whiteness did not distinguish them from other people. For example, Stan (Age 20, College Student) said: “I mean, for me, being in America it is majority White, so I’m surrounded by a lot of people that are like me. So, it’s a lot more comfortable for me.” Yet, Stan also indicated some awareness of racial difference when he continued: “I would imagine that if I were Black it would be kind of hard to get used to it. I mean everywhere you go, you are the minority.” Thus, participants denied that their whiteness held relevance because they were able to be in situations in which White people were the norm and the majority. This allowed them to feel as if their race was not something that existed (i.e., only people of color have race).

Moving toward: Awareness of White privilege.

Although participants described whiteness as lacking meaning, they also described it as meaningful because it was the source of their white privilege. Participants discussed the benefits of being White in the United States, including economic advantages (better jobs, getting credit), better treatment (when asking for assistance or service), and expectations that one will be successful. For example, Stan (Age 20, College Student) described how being White increased his chances to gain employment: “When I apply for a job, I really value that I am White. I know it’s not politically correct to say that, but I mean chances are I [will] have a better chance of getting a job.” Along with material benefits, some participants also described the psychological and emotional benefits of being White, such as increased mentorship, the presence of role models, and being seen as more trustworthy. For example, Dale (Age 65, retired) said: “I think you can look at any country and look at their leaders. What are their political and economic leaders? What nationality, what are they, male or female, and that tells you what the advantages are in the country.” Anna (Age 20, College Student) remarked: “Just simply being White, just simply being White; it makes it easier with everything imaginable.” A final way that participants framed white privilege was to note ways they avoided stereotyping and discrimination. Julie explains:

I think there is a lot of racism towards like every other race, but since White people are the majority of the population in our country, I think it makes a lot of things easier. There aren’t as many negatives stereotypes against us.

(Julie, Age 19, College Student and Part-time Cafeteria Worker).

Thinking about Identities

Our female participants demonstrated ambivalent racial consciousness in the way they considered their non-racial identities (e.g., ethnicity, gender). On the one hand, they deflected from their whiteness by placing emphasis on these alternate identities as creating their sense of self, while conversely highlighting how occupying stigmatized identities allowed them to have empathy and better understand the negative experiences of people of color.

Moving away: Centering non-racial identities.

For some female participants who said their race was not important, the importance of ethnicity (i.e., Jewish, Irish) was described as a characteristic that shaped their experience. For example, Claire (Age 69, Office worker) said: “Well I think being White doesn’t impact our lives; it’s the ethnic part of it.” That is, some of the women in the study connected their ethnic identities, rather than their whiteness, to a sense of identity and consciousness. Michelle (Age 24, Law Student) described how she embraced her Jewish ethnicity, separate from her white racial identity: “I almost feel like I’m passing for White. I know I’m White, but I don’t feel White like everybody else is White, because I’m Jewish.” To focus on the importance of ethnicity and religion over race represents moving away from racial consciousness because it minimizes the racial privilege these women experience as a result of their whiteness and reflects a distancing strategy (Case & Hemmings, 2005; Kivel, 2002; Waters, 1996).

Moving toward: Understanding racism through other marginalized identities.

Despite emphasizing ethnicity rather than whiteness, some of the women in the study described how being discriminated against because of a non-racial identity they held (e.g., size, religion, gender) helped them understand racial discrimination experienced by people of color. One woman linked her awareness of others’ racial oppression to her experience of size discrimination:

I did have taste of discrimination from being a fat woman…So I have experienced discrimination, not for the race thing but I have experienced discrimination. I know what it’s like so I have compassion. I have felt that I’m blessed because I’m White because it’s one less thing that I have to worry about.

(Nora, Age 48, Unemployed)

These participants engaged in perspective-taking, drawing on their own experiences with their stigmatized identities to understand experiences of people of color, resulting in statements of increased empathy (Curtin, Stewart, & Cole, 2015). Focusing on their stigmatized identities may alleviate women’s guilt related to their privileged racial identity (Grillo & Wildman, 1995). Nevertheless, using their experiences to better relate to racial minorities may allow White people to move towards racial consciousness.

Thinking about Oppression

Participants in the study demonstrated ambivalent racial consciousness in the way that they discussed who is oppressed and discriminated against in U.S. society. Although White participants acknowledged oppression and discrimination experienced by people of color, they also perceived unfairness and oppression toward White people.

Moving away: Focusing on white “oppression.”

A common way in which participants denied racial inequality was by shifting the focus to their own oppression and highlighting ways that systems and society are unjust to White people. Some of the discussion centered on their perception of unfair and untrue stereotypes that people of color held about White people. These included that White people are nice but also gullible and easily taken advantage of; smart but uptight and non-athletic. Participants also described experiences of “reverse” discrimination or the belief that White people were disadvantaged because of their race. Participants reported that they were not given opportunities at work or school because they felt that institutions were more interested in filling quotas or wanting to appear more diverse. Daniel reflects this sentiment when he discussed feeling like his racial group membership made his accomplishments invisible:

There are certain opportunities that are given to minorities that aren’t given to us. …Every achievement you make there’s someone else out there, a White male, that is doing it too. …Whereas someone may really applaud a minority who makes it through college and higher education and gets a good job.

(Daniel, Age 19, College Student and Part-time Construction Worker)

Participants also talked about how the presence of reverse discrimination resulted in a racial double standard or certain behaviors that are acceptable for people of color (e.g., using the N-word) but viewed as racist when performed by Whites. Additionally, participants noted ways they felt personally discriminated against as White people by people of color in interpersonal interactions or unjustly perceived as racist. Examples include being teased, treated poorly, or excluded in social settings in which they were the racial minority. Thus, discussions of white oppression reflected ways participants moved away from racial consciousness by deflecting to ways that their own racial group was disadvantaged.

Moving toward: Awareness of racism.

At the same time that participants felt that systems and policies were unfair to White people, some explicitly acknowledged the racial discrimination, racist structures, and negative stereotyping faced by people of color. Participants explicitly stated how White men have set up structures through governments or different types of organizations that historically privileged them and discriminated against people of color. For example, one participant reflected on how his family history of voluntary migration to the United States was distinct from others’ family histories that included being stolen from another country and enslaved in the United States or experiencing mass genocide. Similarly, in a discussion of the unfairness Affirmative Action to White people, some participants expressed a greater understanding of the purpose of this policy, if not how the policy actually works. For example, Jason (Age 33, College Student) said,

[the] NAACP, they try to even things out by taking away, maybe the most qualified White person, to let someone of ethnic origin into the school. Which, you know, you’ll get in next year, it’s not like you’re kicked out for life.

In a discussion of white advantage, Alan (Age 19, College Student) expressed greater understanding about why minority groups might form organizations to meet their needs: “I don’t know if there are organizations that are specifically for White people, but there’s a lot of organizations that just are mostly White people.” He later says: “I don’t think there’s a lot of stuff set up specifically for us; I just think it comes that way or is that way.” Alan recognizes that in the current society, most organizations are comprised of White people by default, thus lessening the need for special organizations that bring White people together. Even within discussions of white oppression and white advantage, there were participants who expressed greater racial consciousness in their awareness of how systems, structures, and policies serve to create and maintain racial inequality.

Attributions for racial inequality: There is racial inequality but…

We found that participants acknowledged racial inequality but deflected the cause away from unfair racialized systems in two ways: by blaming people of color for inequality and by focusing on economic explanations for inequality. Although both of these are primarily examples of moving away from racial consciousness, the fact that they require the acknowledgement of racial inequality may represent a point of leverage to shift White people toward greater racial consciousness. In this way, we conceptualize the tendency to provide non-racial explanations for racial inequality as a form of ambivalence, albeit weaker than the forms previously discussed. Nearly all of these types of deflections were made by men in our study.

Moving away: Victim blaming.

One way that participants acknowledged racial inequality while engaging in distancing was by describing ways that racial disparities are not actually due to race and racism. In this discussion, participants pathologized people of color, describing how characteristics held by people of color contribute to their own disadvantage. Some of this discussion relied upon participants’ stereotypes about people of color (mostly black people) as frightening, troublemakers, and having a non-traditional family structure (i.e., single parent or no parents). For this sample, one common belief was that Black communities do not value education as much as White communities, making it more difficult for Black people to succeed in life. For example, although on the surface Tom’s (Age 21, College Student and Full-time Store Manager) comment seems to explain Black disadvantage by a lack of resources, he also conflates family poverty with lack of care and support: “A lot of times just because I am White, because my parents do care, they bought me [a] computer. …A lot of Black kids don’t have that. They don’t have that reinforcement from home.” Tom’s statement suggests that if parents cared enough, they would provide their children with materials funded by resources they may not have in order to ensure their children’s success.

Moving away: Economic attributions for racial inequality.

Participants made economic attributions for racial disparities rather than citing race and racism as a barrier. Participants minimized the relevance and importance of their racial group membership, stating instead that disadvantages faced by people of color are a result of their lower socioeconomic status:

I think it is more of a financial base than it is race specific. I mean, I can see White people that live in Detroit are going to grow up and have the same kind of poor education as a Black person in Detroit, there’s really no difference so in that aspect and I would say that wealthy Black families are gonna have equal education as a wealthy White family…

(Daniel, Age 19, College Student and Part-time Construction Worker)

Occasionally, a participant linked economics to racial differences in opportunities available to individuals: “Like hidden tax of some kind, or some- you know, there are certain things that like just financially are more difficult, and so I think that starts to shape a lot of this at a very young age for most black kids” (Tom, Age 21, Jiffy Lube Manager).

In these examples, participants acknowledged racial disparities, but located the cause for differences in the poverty of people of color. Although some participants indicated their belief that racial minority individuals were more likely than White people to be lower social class, they specified that it is the qualities of lower socioeconomic status individuals, such as being less supportive of educational attainment, that were problematic. This shifting of focus to the values of racial minority groups or economic factors are ways of moving away from the impact of racism on inequality.

Moving toward: Acknowledgement of racial inequality.

Although it was rarely explicit, when participants attributed reasons for racial inequality to characteristics of racial minorities or economic disparities, they did acknowledge that racial minorities often lived in worse circumstances or had fewer opportunities. For example, in a discussion of opportunities, Daniel acknowledged that “…in a struggling community where minorities live, they’re just concerned with surviving and mak[ing] sure there is food on the table…” (Age 19, College Student and Part-time Construction Worker). Further, the internal qualities and economic attributions were made in the context of discussion about racial discrimination toward racial minorities and white advantage. Thus, while primarily deflecting the discussion away from uncomfortable explanations for racial inequality, such as unfair systems and structures that provide unearned advantages to White people, the fact that our participants did see racial inequality might be a point of leverage. That is, work to develop white racial consciousness could start with shifting White people’s understanding of the reasons for racial inequality rather than needing to establish its existence.

Interracial Interactions

In her APA session on ally behavior, Karen Suyemoto described the role of allies as “choosing to value justice over comfort” (Suyemoto, 2017). Similarly, we found some participants showed signs of moving toward racial awareness when they expressed a willingness to have interracial interactions and strived to make these encounters positive and comfortable for all members. In contrast, others moved away from racial consciousness by instead prioritizing comfort over justice – they described avoiding racial minorities because of fear or discomfort.

Moving away: Valuing comfort over justice.

Some participants expressed concerns about interracial interactions, either that they would behave inappropriately or have difficult or strained interactions, which led them to avoid such encounters. A few participants avoided engaging in conversations with people of color about issues of race or racial identity due to worries they would violate “politically correct” norms, potentially fearing they would be labeled “racist.”

One thing that is kind of a social hang up for me is political correctness because I am never really sure how to address a minority, if I don’t know someone’s name, how to address someone. Usually it’s just sir or ma’am, but referring to a group, do I say Black person or do I say African American or do I say Negro? What am I supposed to say? How am I supposed to act?

(Chris, Age 19, College Student)

Anxiety sometimes occurred when individuals were a numerical minority because of uncertainty about how they would be perceived. At other times, the discomfort was attributed to the coldness of the racial minority person. For example, when Claire (Age 65, Part-time Office Worker) described the “unfriendliness” of the one Black family on her block in not introducing themselves to her, another participant suggested that their behavior may not be due to their race. In response, Claire acknowledged that she also has not met some White families on her street, yet she concluded: “I would consider that, but I don’t think so. I think it’s that they are either intimidated or don’t want to show- I don’t think they’re comfortable with us.”

Prioritizing avoiding discomfort because one is not sure about language use or assume a person of color has a problematic disposition acts as a barrier that prevents some White individuals from engaging in interracial interactions that might allow them to develop positive relationships with racial minorities and cultivate stronger anti-racist attitudes.

Moving toward: Valuing justice over comfort.

Yet, other participants expressed racial consciousness in that their concerns about interracial interactions focused on how to be an ally. These individuals talked about having friendships or more frequent interactions with racial minorities. Reflecting greater racial consciousness, some participants expressed a mixture of guilt and discomfort when describing some interactions with their friends of color, but their negative emotions appeared to stem from an awareness of their racial privilege rather than fear:

I always feel apologetic or something to my non-White friends. Well, I’m not falling all over them saying “So sorry I’m White” but I think- I try to be sensitive that I’ve not and will not have some of the same experiences because of their race.

(Elaine, Age 54, Therapist)

Similarly, Adrianne (Age 22, College Student), who is studying to be a teacher said “…sometimes it’s easier for White girls to identify with me than it is for boys or children of different ethnicities and that’s something I’d really like to eliminate…” These types of discussions suggest that participants want to have positive relationships with people of color or even be an ally, but they perceive some barriers to achieving these goals. Yet, unlike those who are moving away from interracial interactions, these individuals are willing to engage with racial minorities in ways that increase their racial consciousness and have the potential to create more racial equity and justice.

Ambivalent Racial Consciousness

Ambivalent racial consciousness is a meta-theme reflecting a push towards awareness about racial privilege and a simultaneous pull back from this knowledge into a more comfortable stance of denial. That is, individuals were demonstrating some awareness of racial privilege and the oppression of other groups while simultaneously resisting full racial consciousness. Analysis of the two themes of moving away from awareness of racial inequality and moving towards anti-racism and racial consciousness revealed that, rather than different individuals exhibiting these two approaches, it was often the same individuals expressing seemingly contradictory beliefs.

Looking across the moving away and moving toward themes, we see strong evidence of ambivalence. Of participants who expressed any feelings that reflected moving away from racial consciousness (n = 27), 89% (n = 24) were aware of their white privilege, 11% (n = 3) gained understanding of experiences of people of color through their own marginalized identities, 63% (n = 17) were aware of discrimination toward people of color, and 26% (n = 7) sought to have positive interracial interactions. Overall, almost 90% (n = 26) of participants made statements that reflect both the moving away theme and the moving towards theme. Thus, we found that White participants often held contradictory beliefs about whiteness, oppression, and racial inequality. Further, as noted previously, nearly all participants who engaged in some distancing or deflecting strategies about racial inequality also expressed areas of awareness or understanding. In sum, the results suggest many of our participants expressed ambivalent racial consciousness.

Discussion

In this study, we sought to complicate white racial psychology by deconstructing ambivalence within white racial consciousness as indicators of moving toward and moving away from anti-racism. Although this ambivalence maintains racism and white supremacy, the results highlighted opportunities within white racial consciousness that could strengthen critical intersectional awareness among psychology graduate practitioners-in-training and others. Many White participants expressed ambivalence when they made meaning of their whiteness, stated how other social identities influenced their understanding of their whiteness, and provided their perspectives on the source and reasoning for racial inequality. Given that our participants often expressed ideas reflecting their awareness of white privilege and racial inequality, it is important to consider why they might move away from racial consciousness.

Intersectional critical reflection requires a comprehensive understanding of structural oppression. Our participants moved away from racial consciousness by dismissing the importance of whiteness and instead highlighting the importance of non-racial identities (including ethnicity and religion), focusing on ways White people are disadvantaged, blaming people of color for their inequality, or framing economic disparities as the main contributor to racial inequality. We see these expressions as reflecting a “just world” ideology positing that fairness brings worthy people good outcomes and unworthy people poor outcomes (Kay et al., 2007). Such an ideology serves to justify existing systems and make these ambivalent and contradictory sets of beliefs more consistent. For example, the negative beliefs and stereotypes about racial minorities serve to rationalize their unequal outcomes and maintain the complementary belief that white privilege is due to positive qualities and characteristics (rather than unfair systems). Similarly, when participants made economic rationalizations for the poorer outcomes of people of color, they attempted to legitimize the status-quo because the corresponding reasoning, sometimes verbalized by participants, is that if people of color could raise their economic status, success would follow. These attributions serve to cognitively distance the white self from racism and discrimination, rationalize unequal racial outcomes, reduce associated guilt about injustice, maintain white privilege, and attribute White individual success to positive characteristics (Case & Hemmings, 2005; Delgado & Stefancic, 1997).

This color-blind analysis aligns with Bonilla-Silva’s (2018) criticisms of white liberalism that promotes the myth of meritocracy and individual choice to avoid endorsement of public policies or organizational practices that might reduce racial inequities. For example, colorblind liberalism allows Whites to claim values of racial equity while opposing affirmative action or redistribution of wealth to support schools with high proportion of students of color. Similar to colorblindness ideology, ambivalent racial consciousness could help explain how White people cope with the dissonance experienced when they are confronted with the current racial reality and simultaneously have to deal with the desire to benefit from white supremacy (Bonilla-Silva, 2003; Neville et al., 2000). Others have found results consistent with our notion of ambivalent racial consciousness. Malat and colleagues (2010) found that doctors could identify that Black people experienced discrimination but reverted to minimizing or expressing doubt that discrimination existed. Moving White people towards greater racial consciousness requires strategies for fostering critical intersectional awareness of systems of inequality and developing skills for harnessing their privilege and guilt for ally behavior and social change.

The moving away strategies were also defensive statements that White people use when they are challenged on their racist practices. These challenges often disrupt the dominant white racial narrative. The denying of race and its significance in social life, overemphasizing ethnicity rather than racial group, perpetuating the myth of reverse racism, stating that classism (as opposed to racism) is the central cause of disparities, and being more invested in civility rather than justice are all part of a larger social construct of white fragility—a conditioned response to being challenged about racism and white supremacy (Diangelo, 2018). White fragility and ambivalent white racial consciousness both maintain white racial dominance. Yet, the vacillation that White people experience within ambivalent white racial consciousness may provide opportunities or pathways for anti-racist interventions, whereas the anti-racist intervention is what spurs white fragility.

Although we found evidence of ambivalent racial consciousness within many themes, and across themes, we also observed that only a subset of participants used their own marginalized identities and social positions to engage in perspective-taking that allowed them to empathize with the inequality faced by people of color. Similarly, only a subset of participants sought to engage in interracial interactions, even if they felt some discomfort doing so. This subset of White people may be exhibiting a more developed racial consciousness. Perspective-taking that evokes empathy has been an important factor for increasing out-group comfort and willingness to act as an ally (Cole, Case, Rios, & Curtin, 2011; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008), and has been theorized to reduce feelings of competition between groups (Spijkerman, Benschop, & Bücker, 2018). Further, both empathy and reduced intergroup anxiety are associated with less prejudicial attitudes (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008).

In addition, intergroup anxiety may be especially problematic for social change as it has been implicated as one of the main barriers to improved interracial relations (Stephan & Stephan, 1985). Racial anxiety often takes place because White people fear being perceived as racist (Tropp & Page-Gould, 2015). However, avoidance of intergroup interactions is a barrier to racial consciousness because it prevents challenging one’s stereotypes about people of color, developing empathy towards people of color, and cultivating positive interpersonal relationships. Interventions that build on developing empathy and promoting positive social interactions between racial groups may be important aspects of moving ambivalent racial consciousness toward racial consciousness.

The sample in the current study was small and non-random; the participants who selected into our study were aware that it was about race and gender and thus may have been more comfortable with these topics and aware of issues related to privilege and bias. Therefore, it is unclear whether these findings would transfer to other White people. The sample also spans across a broad and diverse group of White people. White graduate clinicians may exhibit higher than average sensitivity to diversity and inclusion and lower ambivalence given that they are in stages in their career where they are receiving direct training on professional ethics. However, these complex and nuanced attitudes toward racial inequality may provide graduate clinicians critical insights on how to engage their White clients who are interested in developing an anti-racist consciousness. Finally, as scholars of race, we may have been especially likely to see the anti-racist potential in our participants’ discussion of Whiteness.

Implications for Training Graduate Student Practitioners

In the interest of challenging practitioners in training to apply intersectional theory to the experiences of the privileged, the curriculum must provide avenues for analyzing the psychology of whiteness. By zooming in to focus on the single-axis of white privilege, graduate educators provide brave spaces for naming structural realities that personally connect all White individuals to systemic racism (Case, 2017; Case & Hemmings, 2005). The infusion of intersectional reflection on complex white racial consciousness into graduate training benefits future clients of students of color and White students. Therapists and counselors engaging with complex critical inquiry into white ambivalent racial consciousness may expand their toolkit for working with White clients and identifying possible moving toward beliefs and attitudes. With training designed to build skills in recognizing both moving away defense mechanisms and moving toward ally behavior, practitioners may potentially harness these glimmers of white introspection to facilitate growth. When working with clients of color to deconstruct experiences with racism in their personal and professional lives, White practitioners with a critical intersectional approach to whiteness may offer insights, appropriate support, and affirmation often missing in therapeutic settings (Ancis & Syzmanski, 2001; Case, 2015; Hays et al., 2008).

We recommend explicit curricular inclusion and coverage of concepts such as the just-world hypothesis, myth of meritocracy, color-blind ideology, white liberal racism, white fragility, systemic racism, and white guilt. Consuming and reflecting on the theoretical arguments about the damage of color-blind ideology (Bonilla-Silva, 2018; Neville, 2000) and white fragility (D’Angelo, 2018) requires White practitioners in training to apply power, systemic, and structural analyses to their own limited standpoints. In their study of White pre-service teachers, Case and Hemmings (2005) suggested instructors incorporate a metadialogic approach that both names and facilitates reflection on what they label as white distancing (moving away from racism). Case and Hemmings (2005) described setting the stage for early, direct, open discussion and discursive analysis of “White talk” (p. 624) such as “you people” or “I don’t see color.” We also recommend the activities and assignments outlined by Case (2015) for raising awareness of white privilege among White counseling trainees. To promote what she labeled therapeutic ally-ance, Case described the Counseling Privilege Scenarios Group Assignment which offers students the opportunity to analyze the therapist’s privilege based on ability and income-level followed by white privilege. In essence, we encourage faculty in training programs to engage students in critical inquiry and critical praxis (Collins & Bilge, 2016) that facilitates their skills for moving toward antiracism.

Case (2015) also provided the instructional framework for the White Privilege Reflections Paper which incorporates personal reflection, analysis of social institutions, impact on the therapeutic relationship, and ally behavior. Students completing the Intersecting Identities Practitioner Education Project must apply the knowledge and skills gained to educate practitioners with regard to a particular intersectional issue. By applying the Case (2017) intersectional pedagogy model to practitioner training, instructors can mentor white students in their development of strategies for moving toward antiracism and critique motivations and psychological constructs that move them away from racial consciousness. Using the intersectional gears image (Case, 2017, Figure 1.2, p. 4), instructors can create assignments or in-class activities for analysis of white ambivalent racial consciousness. Based on readings assigned and the metadialogic approach to white distancing (Case & Hemmings, 2005), students could use the intersectional gears image to map aspects of race that are more salient or prominent in society and analyze which aspects remain invisible, which aspects provide them comfort versus discomfort (move toward or away), and how these various aspects interact to alter each other. For example, salient aspects might be racial myths (e.g., meritocracy), phrases associated with White talk (e.g., reverse discrimination), and stereotypes. Invisible hidden gears might represent invisible structural barriers faced by people of color such as bias in hiring, police violence, epistemic exclusion, or lack of equity and access to healthcare and education.

Application of critical intersectional inquiry and practice throughout graduate training and supervision will enhance White trainees’ skills for personal reflection on privilege and implicit bias, complex understanding of structural systems of racism in connections with other forms of oppression, and willingness to engage with the realities of race and racism with future clients (Ancis & Syzmanski, 2001; Case, 2015). Without explicit and reflection approaches infused across the curriculum, ambivalent white racial consciousness will continue to influence therapeutic interactions resulting in potential harm to clients of color and lack of development for White clients.