Everyday racism responses split into self-protective and self-enhancing motivational drives.

Evidence

Two motivational consequences of the universal context of racism are proposed: (a) self-protective motivations, by which one is oriented to detecting the occurrence of, protecting oneself from, avoiding, and conquering racism; and (b) self-enhancing motivations by which one is oriented toward expressing and enhancing one’s self-worth and humanity. Self-protective mechanisms are triggered by the perception of a race-based threat in a given situation, or a chronic state of unfairness or discrimination based on race. Deployment of these defense mechanisms will depend on the cues in the situation as interpreted by one’s race-based schema (racial centrality), as well as by more enduring belief systems (system blame, system justification, and race ideology processes). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1082 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Racism targets deploy self-protective and self-enhancing motivational systems — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 1082; Targets of prejudice balance self-protection and self-enhancement motives — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 1058; Racism targets deploy a documented range of behavioral coping responses. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1512 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Racism targets deploy self-protective and self-enhancing motivational systems #expands (0.95) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1082