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Learning (Not) to Know: Examining How White Ignorance Manifests and Functions in White Adolescents' Racial Identity
Brandon D Dull1, Leoandra Onnie Rogers1, Jade Ross2
1Department of Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Child Development
|January 23, 2025
Summary
White adolescents often accommodate white ignorance by framing race as unimportant or refusing to acknowledge racism. Some resist by recognizing systemic racism, highlighting how cultural practices shape racial identity.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Critical Race Theory
- Sociology of Race
Background:
- White ignorance, in critical studies, involves intentional non-knowing that sustains racism.
- Understanding how racial identity develops in adolescents is crucial for addressing systemic inequalities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically analyze manifestations of white ignorance in the racial identity narratives of white adolescents.
- To explore how macro-level cultural practices of white ignorance are embedded in adolescent micro-level identities.
Main Methods:
- Critical qualitative analysis of semi-structured interview data from 69 white adolescents (ages 15-16).
- The study analyzed narratives to identify patterns of accommodation and resistance to white ignorance.
Main Results:
- Three forms of accommodation to white ignorance were identified: constructing whiteness as disadvantaged, framing racism as irrelevant, and refusing to acknowledge racial oppression.
- A notable thread of resistance involved adolescents recognizing and naming systemic racism.
Conclusions:
- White ignorance is reinforced through the racial identity development of white adolescents.
- Findings have implications for developmental science, particularly in understanding and contextualizing white racial identity.
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