Racism targets deploy self-protective and self-enhancing motivational systems

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

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). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1082

What Allport roughly sketched is a two-factor model of targets’ responses to prejudice. One recurring response is self-protective, as it protects a person from the most negative effects of discrimination, oppression, and disadvantage. The second, which social scientists have spent far less time thinking about, can be considered self-enhancement, the mechanisms by which one maintains a positive outlook and a wholesome pursuit of wellbeing and human dignity. I have labeled the disparaging and threatening circumstances of prejudice the “universal context of racism.” The universal context of racism implies the continuous “availability” of patterns of discrimination and disadvantage that become chronically accessible as explanatory constructs for personal experience. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1058

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the UCR model’s two motivational axes and what triggers the protective one — a citable framework.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 1082; , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1082; , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1058