Racial Segregation and Its Effects on Intergroup Cognition

Abstract

The United States’ racial landscape continues to be marred by pervasive patterns of structural segregation. In other words, our societal structure—that is, the patterns of relationships between entities within society and the arrangement of groups within society—continues to reflect the separation of Black and White individuals. Why have these patterns of structural segregation persisted over legal, economic, attitudinal and cultural shifts? What are the forces working to stagnate change? In this dissertation, I aim to shed light on processes that play a role in impeding progress towards a more integrated and accepting racial landscape. My research focuses on one set of perceptions, which prior research has established as important for maintaining the current racial landscape—people’s perceptions of other individual’s racial attitudes (for brief review see: Shelton & Richeson, 2006), and the factors that shape these perceptions. More specifically, I posit that the patterns of structural segregation in our society augment, and even instill the perception that other individuals prefer same-race to cross-race peers. To build towards this assertion, I draw on a sociocultural framework, which conceptualizes the relation between individuals and the surrounding cultural context. I then present data from three manuscripts, on the effects of structural segregation on children and adults perceptions of others’ racial attitudes. Paper 1 investigated the impacts of observing patterns of structural segregation in others’ friendship networks on 4- to 6-year-old children’s perceptions of who should and will be friends. Paper 2 focused on how patterns of structural segregation within schools influence 7- to 10-year-old children’s perceptions of others’ racial attitudes. Finally, Paper 3 focused on patterns of structural segregation within neighborhoods, and their effect on adults’ perceptions of others’ racial attitudes. Together, this dissertation provides insight into the ways in which people normalize and understand patterns of structural segregation. By shedding light on this process, we can hopefully gain a more holistic understanding of why progress towards a more racially egalitarian and integrated landscape is slower than what we might expect.