I will warn at the onset that, rather unfortunately, discussions on the subject of critical race pedagogy (especially Critical Race Theory) remain politically charged despite much clarification by scholars and experts within the field (Legal Defense Fund, 2024). If this is a topic you are unfamiliar with or have only heard in passing, I ask that you read this post in full (as well as the references listed) before engaging. By no means am I myself claiming to be an expert within critical theory nor the teaching of race and ethnicity in America; however, as someone passionate about these topics, I am familiar enough to opine while keeping an open mind of how ignorant I remain as a student. Nevertheless, I hope to inspire some reflection and personal growth as we continue to learn through our journeys as students, adults, and ultimately, humans.
During my second semester at Penn State, specifically at Greater Allegheny, I had the opportunity to present original research at a semesterly research and creativity conference as part of the university’s honors program. As a student of criminology and sociology, my first poster was on the association between Militant Extremist Mindsets (Vukcevic Markovic et al., 2021) and gun ownership among college students. My second poster, however, was on an arguably more heated subject, Critical Race Theory (CRT). In short, the aim of the poster was to inform observers of what CRT is, the current debate surrounding its place within American education, and most starkly, misconceptions found within discourse on the matter. While the idea for the poster initially came from a course I was taking at the time (SOC 119N for those interested), I was mostly inspired by how often it was invoked by political commentators and lawmakers at the time.
Originating from the seminal thoughts of Derrick Bell (1995), Critical Race Theory is a legal theory positing that the composition of America’s societal institutions is such that they perpetuate systemic inequality towards communities of color. In particular, Bell (1995) and other proponents suggest that the legal system acts in furtherance of racial oppression by sustaining economic and social imbalances through the use of law. Put simply, racism isn’t necessarily the product of individual prejudice, but is deeply rooted within the legal and political makeup of (American) society itself. Subsequently, through a racially-conscious lens of American history, the theory is aimed at providing further insight, and thus rejection of, sociopolitical hierarchies and beneficiaries that sustain racism within society; similarly, it remains “critical” of policies that fail to effectively rectify systemic injustice (Bell, 1995; Richmond et al., 2024). While this is only a brief synopsis of the theory, one may draw conclusions between its propositions and contemporary socioeconomic outcomes for black Americans, be it risk of incarceration (Fornili, 2018), practices within education (Nguemeni Tiako et al., 2022), or health outcomes (Kim & Bostwick, 2020). However, while this theory is founded within legal scholarship (and thus is largely relegated to legal curriculum), as mentioned prior it was the subject of public policy and political discourse. Of note, it was often associated with concerns of child “indoctrination”. CRT was the target of policies across the country, leading to restrictions being placed on its alleged teaching within classrooms across America (e.g., TX S.B. 16; PA H.B. 1532; FL H.B. 7; Richmond et al., 2024). However, not only did such policies target broader pedagogy on race within classrooms, but many of the claims made towards CRT were outright false, if not at least miscategorized of the subject. That is, what pundits framed at the time as CRT was not in fact “Critical Race Theory”, but standard curriculum within a liberal arts education.
“Ok that’s nice and all”, one might say, “but how does this relate to education outside of curriculum, let alone social psychology?” I submit, astute observer, the relevance of broader pedagogical practices on the subject of race in association with Social Cognitive Learning Theory. To elaborate, much of the education regarding race, ethnicity, and history taught within primary and secondary education within the U.S. is not CRT, but rather operates on the practice of Culturally Responsible Teaching. Such a practice encourages “teachers to consider children’s backgrounds, family experiences, cultural values, and everyday challenges to effectively teach students” (Richmond et al., 2024, p. 268). In taking a culturally holistic approach with students, educators provide students with an environment welcoming of inquiry and application of academic material, especially to historical and ongoing social phenomena (Gay, 2013). When turning towards the premises of Social Cognitive Learning Theory (Gruman et al., 2016), the descriptive and injunctive norms become such that students believe it standard to engage in conversations on matters of diversity while doing so with expectation of an open mind, respectively.
References:
Bell, D. (1995). Who’s afraid of critical race theory? Illinois Law Review, (4), 983-910.
Fornili, K. S. (2018). Racialized mass incarceration and the war on drugs. Journal of Addictions Nursing, 29(1), 65-72.
Gay, G. (2013). Teaching to and through cultural diversity. Curriculum Inquiry, 43(1), 48-70.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2017). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
Kim, S. J., & Bostwick, W. (2020). Social vulnerability and racial inequality in COVID-19 deaths in Chicago. Health Education & Behavior, 47(4), 509-513.
Legal Defense Fund. (2024). Critical Race Theory: Frequently Asked Questions. Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved from https://www.naacpldf.org/critical-race-theory-faq/
Nguemeni Tiako, M. J., Ray, V, South, E. C. (2022). Medical schools as racialized organizations: How race-neutral structures sustain racial inequality in medical education-a narrative review. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 37(9), 2259-2266.
Richmond, B. S., Toosi, N. R., Wellman, J. D., & Wilkins, C. L. (2024). Ignorance of critical race theory predicts white Americans’ opposition to it. Journal of Social Issues, 80(1), 240-271.
Vukcevic Markovic, M., Nicovic, A., & Zivanovic, M. (2021). Contextual and psychological predictors of militant extremist mindset in youth. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1-10.