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Does “Privilege Checking” Make Us Less Racist, or More? Generation and Political Orientation Matter

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Abstract

In recent years, White-dominated communities have begun to attend more to issues of diversity and inclusion. To this effect, many communities have instituted formal diversity training sessions. Frequently, these include exercises designed to facilitate White people’s awareness of how whiteness shapes their experiences. We investigated how generation and political orientation might shape individuals’ responses to such interventions in a context in which commitments to social justice compete with concerns with abstract liberalism. A national online sample responded to a racial privilege checklist (or a control checklist), then expressed attitudes about an Airbnb.com policy that enables hosts’ racial discrimination against guests. The present evidence indicates that while a White privilege salience exercise may increase anti-racist attitudes in moderate and liberal Pre-Millennials, it is associated with a backlash effect in Millennial conservatives and moderates, who express more racist attitudes when White privilege is salient compared with a control condition. We discuss potential mechanisms, as well as implications for diversity initiatives and limitations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Amie Audirsch for insight into Starbucks Corporation’s “Racial Bias Training”, and an anonymous reviewer for valuable feedback. This work was supported by University of Portland.

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Author notes

  1. Tatiana J. Spisz and Chloé G. Tanega have contributed equally to this article.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Portland, 5000 N. Willamette Blvd., Portland, OR, 97203-5798, USA

    Louisa C. Egan Brad, Tatiana J. Spisz & Chloé G. Tanega

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  1. Louisa C. Egan Brad
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Correspondence to Louisa C. Egan Brad.

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Appendices

Appendices

Appendix A: White Privilege Checklist

Racial privilege refers to the concept that people who are members of the dominant race receive visible and invisible benefits solely based on their skin color. These privileges are unearned and unasked for but benefit people from the dominant racial group in all aspects of their life, whether they are aware of it or not. Having privilege is neither good nor bad; it simply is.

Please check all items that apply to you and your experiences:

 

Participants checking this item (N = 205)

I can regularly find makeup or Band-Aids at mainstream stores designed to blend in with or match my skin tone (typically marketed as “flesh” or “nude”)

83.9%

I have not been asked to speak on behalf of members of my racial group as a whole

62.0%

I can make grammar or pronunciation mistakes and know that people will not attribute my mistakes to linguistic stereotypes of my racial group

65.9%

I can walk into a classroom and be confident I will not be the only member of my race

79.0%

I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely and positively represented

78.5%

I can take a job or enroll in a college with an affirmative action policy without having my co-workers or peers assume I got it because of my race

68.3%

In most settings, I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk with the “person in charge” I will be facing a person of my race

58.0%

Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial responsibility

70.7%

When people ask me “Where are you from?” I know that I can answer with a state and they will not follow up with, “But where are you really from?”

72.7%

I was not raised to be aware of systemic racism for my own daily physical protection

59.5%

Appendix B: Adult Privilege Checklist

In the United States, people who are 18 years old or older receive visible and invisible benefits solely based on their adult status. These advantages are automatically bestowed with age and unasked for, but benefit adults in all aspects of their life, whether they are aware of it or not. The advantages that come with adult status are neither good nor bad; they simply are.

Please check all items that apply to you and your experiences:

 

Participants checking this item (N = 221)

When I make a complaint, it is not dismissed due to my age status

69.7%

I can walk into a store and try on clothes without shopkeepers suspicious that I won’t purchase anything due to my age

75.1%

I can easily find primetime sitcoms and TV shows that are centered around people of my adult status

71.5%

I can buy my own ticket to a movie with an R rating

91.4%

I can legally get a tattoo or a piercing

89.1%

I can serve as a juror for civil or criminal trials

89.6%

In most settings, I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk with the “person in charge” I will be facing a person of my adult status

73.3%

Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my adult status not to work against the appearance of financial responsibility

77.8%

When people address me as “ma’am” or “sir”, I can assume that they are using the title as a sign of respect

73.8%

I was raised to respect adults

90.0%

Appendix C: Airbnb.com Policy Task

Airbnb.com, Inc. was founded in 2008 and bills itself as “a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world.” Individual hosts post advertisements for their properties, which range from shared rooms to castles, and manage the stays of their guests. A potential guest creates a user profile including their name and a profile picture, and searches the Airbnb.com website for accommodations that meet their needs in terms of location, availability, accommodation type, and price. Typically, once a guest requests to book a listing, the host views their information and can choose to confirm or deny the booking.

Within the past few years, Airbnb.com has been criticized for discrimination that takes place on its platform. A 2016 study found that booking requests from Airbnb.com guests with distinctively Black names (like Tanisha Jackson or Tyrone Robinson) were 16% less likely to be accepted by hosts than booking requests from Airbnb.com guests with names that sounded more White (like Kristen Sullivan or Todd McCarthy). Some people have suggested that Airbnb.com should stop having users display a name or profile picture before booking, and that this information should only be available to hosts once they have confirmed the booking.

People who defend the policy of allowing hosts to view potential guests’ names and profile pictures say that it allows them to vet potential guests through search engines and social media, improves safety for them as hosts (for example, they know who to look for when they’re opening their door to a guest who arrives at 9 pm and they can verify that the guest is indeed the person who booked the Airbnb.com), and that hosts deserve some level of control over who’s staying in their homes.

Do you think that Airbnb.com should continue the policy of allowing hosts to view guests’ profile information prior to confirming bookings, or that they should end the policy?

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Egan Brad, L.C., Spisz, T.J. & Tanega, C.G. Does “Privilege Checking” Make Us Less Racist, or More? Generation and Political Orientation Matter. Race Soc Probl 11, 1–14 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-018-9246-0

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