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Published on: September 27, 2020
Internalized racism as a self-regulatory system: The internalized racism process model.
1Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Psychological Review
|July 9, 2026
Summary
The Internalized Racism Process Model (IRPM) offers a new framework for understanding how racism becomes embedded in psychological functioning. It explains how social structures and identity processes shape internalized racism and its effects.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Internalized racism is a widely studied but fragmented concept.
- Existing theories lack a comprehensive process framework.
- A need exists for a model explaining the psychological embedding of ethnoracial hierarchies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To advance the Internalized Racism Process Model (IRPM).
- To conceptualize internalized racism as a motive-driven self-regulation system.
- To integrate fragmented literatures and explain variability in internalization.
Main Methods:
- The study proposes a theoretical process model (IRPM).
- It outlines the convergence of structural conditions, socialization, and identity processes.
- It details a functional-motivational architecture involving regulatory functions.
Main Results:
- The IRPM integrates diverse forms and manifestations of internalized racism.
- It links psychological motives (self-integrity, belonging) to regulatory functions (threat minimization, ideological acceptance, identity translation).
- The model explains variability in who internalizes racism, under what conditions, and why consequences differ.
Conclusions:
- The IRPM provides a unifying account of internalized racism.
- It offers testable predictions and an agenda for future research on the psychology of inequality.
- The model can inform strategies addressing the psychological impact of racism on subordinated and advantaged groups.
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