The Impact of Home and School Socialization on White Identity
Faculty-Student Collaboration
1
Faculty Sponsor(s)
Piljoo Kang, Ph.D.
Presentation Type
Event
Project Type
Research in progress
Primary Department
Psychology
Description
Young White individuals often do not have answers to questions surrounding their culture, very few give out defining features of their White identity with confidence (Dottolo & Stewart, 2013). Instead of answering these questions with specific definitions, they respond with “I don’t know” or they deflect the question by shifting to another way to identify themselves either through religion or location. Following the grounded theory approach described by Strauss & Corbin (1990), we conducted semi-structured interviews at a college in the Southeastern region (n= 36) of the United States including topics such as their home and school experiences, their White cultural experiences, and defining White identity. The data was analyzed using an open coding process to identify thematic categories, utilizing the keywording function of the qualitative data analysis program, Transana. When asked about their first experiences recognizing their own White identity, the participants drew from their family background and school environment. Those who grew up in a more homogeneous environment tended to articulate their White identity in terms of their personal, American experience. Those who had more exposure to diversity during their schooling tended to describe their White identity in comparison to the “others”. This study demonstrates that there are multiple pathways of recognizing and defining one’s racial identity. Recognizing these different pathways will help researchers and educators to address different trajectories of development, meeting young White individuals where they are at, in order to facilitate their progression in White racial identity development.
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The Impact of Home and School Socialization on White Identity
Young White individuals often do not have answers to questions surrounding their culture, very few give out defining features of their White identity with confidence (Dottolo & Stewart, 2013). Instead of answering these questions with specific definitions, they respond with “I don’t know” or they deflect the question by shifting to another way to identify themselves either through religion or location. Following the grounded theory approach described by Strauss & Corbin (1990), we conducted semi-structured interviews at a college in the Southeastern region (n= 36) of the United States including topics such as their home and school experiences, their White cultural experiences, and defining White identity. The data was analyzed using an open coding process to identify thematic categories, utilizing the keywording function of the qualitative data analysis program, Transana. When asked about their first experiences recognizing their own White identity, the participants drew from their family background and school environment. Those who grew up in a more homogeneous environment tended to articulate their White identity in terms of their personal, American experience. Those who had more exposure to diversity during their schooling tended to describe their White identity in comparison to the “others”. This study demonstrates that there are multiple pathways of recognizing and defining one’s racial identity. Recognizing these different pathways will help researchers and educators to address different trajectories of development, meeting young White individuals where they are at, in order to facilitate their progression in White racial identity development.
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Also presented at Western Psychological Association