Soumya Kamada
Race Relations
Race Relations
Soumya Kamada
Dr. Kimery Levering
Examining How Perspectives on Race, Privilege, and Racial Trauma Differ by Race and Perceptions of Anti-White Bias
Abstract
In an increasingly tumultuous and tense political and racial climate, there is new information in the concept of racial trauma. Racial trauma is a direct effect of personal experience or exposure to race based discrimination and therefore, affects those who experience racial discrimination. This study aims to investigate the factors associated with White American adults who report perceiving race based discrimination or Anti-White Bias (AWB). The study employs a survey sent to Marist students and a convenience sample (n=153) that utilizes questions from the Gallup Poll Race Relations Historical Trends, the Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale as well as my own original questions concerning ratings of privilege/oppression of the respondents own race and their perceptions of others. The results demonstrated that there were White participants who reported Anti-White bias that had specific perspectives, including being more conservative, being more satisfied with race relations and reporting less worry about race relations in general. The results of this study indicate that there are clear divides in perceptions concerning race when considering different racial groups and political party affiliations. Future research further investigating these trends may find significant correlation with exposure to different education about race