The psychology of racism

With the AFL now using their racism reeducation program on members of the public and not just footballers anymore, it seems an opportune time to examine this issue.

In the counselling room one hears people express all kinds of views, prejudices and so forth. When the client realizes you are not going to judge them if they make statements that are bigoted and they know because of confidentiality their statements will never leave the room they can open up at a deep level in this way. They express thoughts and views which they would rarely express in public because they know they would be seen as racist or bigoted in some way.

I would suggest there are two different types of racism of perhaps two different ways that racist views can fit into the personality. I was actually working with a man recently who expressed this exact point. He was raised in the United States and reported that as a boy when he was with his father often in the car together, the father would express quite racist views about african americans (I think that is the term to use these days). 

He reported that as he grew up he took these on and became quite racist in how he viewed blacks and other ethnic groups. However as a young adult he joined the military and reports that this cured him of his racism. He was forced to live in close quarters with people of a wide range of ethnic groups and indeed to rely on them for his very survival in combat situations. He discovered first hand what many of them were actually like. He reports that now he has good friends that are African American and so forth.

Children will automatically and instinctually take on those attitudes that are expressed around them especially by the parents and other parent like figures. If parents make open racist comments around children then children will introject those at least to some degree.

This type of racism would probably be suited for systems like the AFL reeducation program. These attitudes are usually not that hard to deal with, in the sense that they are not deeply rooted in the personality. 

However there is another situation where the racist attitudes are more insidious and form a more integral aspect of the personality. This is shown by the life position I+U- (I’m OK, You’re not OK). In my reexamination of the life positions I have shown that this weltanschauung or world view is more accurately represented by the life position I-U-- (I’m not OK, but You’re worse).

Some children grow up with a basic feeling or sense of not OKness. They feel bad in themselves and about themselves. To cope with this they project it out onto others. The thinking goes, “If I can prove they are bad then that means I am good.” This person’s  racist views are how they maintain some sense of self worth and thus will be very resistant to change. Often the bully type person has this structure in his personality. The AFL reeducation program will be of very limited use in such circumstances.

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Victim response to the bully

Zbig asks about possible responses to bullying

The bottom line in the victim dealing with the bully really has nothing to do with the bully at all. People will become involved in relationships (of some duration and importance) that support their life position. People will use such relationships to reconfirm over and over what they decided about themselves and life in general as a child.

If they decided ‘I’m OK’, they will become involved in relationships which support that view of self. On the other hand if they decided ‘I’m not OK’, they will become involved in relationships which will reconfirm that for them over and over. If therapy can assist the person to see self as more OK then the relationship with the bully just wont happen. The two people wont fit in the relationship. Of course this is easier said than done



Many potential victims of bullying simply use the avoidance technique. I have heard numerous clients tell me over the years how they would spend many a school lunchtime break in the library and the like simply to avoid the bully. This can be easily done when the victim has the choice but at places like school or work or in the family it becomes much harder as the person is forced to be in a particular environment. However if they can reasonably easily avoid the bully then that seems to be a sensible approach at least to take in the interim.

My personal view is that in the final analysis it is necessary for the victim in some form to stand his/her ground against the bully. To behaviorally make the statement - ‘I’m OK and will not accept the abuse”. This however is a vexed point and there are some who would definitely disagree with it. They say it is incumbent on the ‘organization’ to protect the victims from bullies and furthermore may make the point that standing up to the bully directly only encourages more violence and conflict.

I am all in favor of schools and the like having bullying policies and organizational strategies which children can use to assist them in dealing with the bully. I think they are a very good idea. I would want any child of mine to tell me if they were being bullied and then I would take some kind of action to assist.



However it seems to me it is important for an individual in the final analysis to make a stand for them self. Having others assist is a great idea but at some point one must stand up for self as that breeds self respect and a belief in self. If one uses an organization to try and stop the bully often the bullying simply becomes more subtle and sooner or later there are going to be circumstances where there is not an organization there to assist.

As to the idea that pushing the bully back breeding more violence and conflict one needs to look at the degree. If a child is being beaten up that is not bullying, it is criminal assault and needs to be dealt with by the police. Bullying at school with males usually involves shoving, verbal abuse, maybe a few punches, taunts and so forth. I agree that ignoring it to see if it goes away is a good first strategy. If it does not go away then pushing back is needed. As I said before there will be those who disagree with me on this matter. I understand their argument but it does not ring true to me. When the bully realizes the person is not going to take the position of victim the trouble stops. It does not cause an escalation of violence.



I understand this is also very easy to say and can be very hard for a child or teenager to do if they feel intimidated, lack confidence and a belief in self. So it may not happen over night but I would see it as a potential goal to look toward.

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