Children and Prejudice Essay

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Children and Prejudice

What a person first needs to know in order to fully understand the various factors that influence racial / ethnic stereotypes is what being Caucasian truly means in our society. In other words, what does "whiteness" mean for a Caucasian child? What does whiteness mean to a child who is African-American -- or to a child that is Latino, or Native American? The authors (Derman-Sparks, et al., 2005) delve into this and other important issues that relate to not just ethnicity but to social power and influence.

What is Racism -- this is important to know -- in America? According to the authors it is important to understand that racism is not just an attitude that one person has towards another. In fact racism in American is an "…institutionalized system of power" that makes the determination as to what groups are "advantaged" and what groups are "disadvantaged" (p. 2). Those that are disadvantaged are left out of society (or pushed to the back of the bus, so to speak) when it comes to politics, economic benefits and culture.

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Caucasians may not feel as though they are being "dominating" at all, Derman-Sparks explains, and this, too is important to know in terms of understanding the racial dynamics. The authors assert that while white folks struggle to earn a living and raise families they do not believe that are "dominating anyone" because the typical Caucasian adult is not conscious of having more power than an African-American employee working alongside that Caucasian adult. That said, the authors argue that "…whites continue to live with unearned racial privilege" while other groups -- people of color -- live "…under racial penalty" (p. 3).

What factors influence children vis-a-vis race and ethnicity? On page 3 the authors point to the fact that children certainly do "…notice racial identity" and they construct their own interpretations as to the "power relationships of racism" from their direct interaction with other children but also from "…what they perceive in a highly 'racialized' society." And by the time Caucasian children reach preschool age, they have learned (or will soon learn) the "power codes or rules of racism" -- that.....

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