The Psychology of Racial Colorblindness

Book excerpt: This book summarizes and integrates the social scientific research on racial colorblindness, focusing primarily on work within the field of psychology. A new multi-variety colorblind framework is presented, which provides theoretical coherence to the present literature as well as a guide for future research. After considering the historical context in which colorblind ideologies have manifested and operated, research is presented that establishes how the colorblind mentality ignores important racial realities and tends to harm racial minorities across a wide variety of domains. Beneficial alternative ideologies are discussed, as are strategies that may be useful in challenging the colorblind ideology. This book will be of interest to both researchers and theorists who study racial ideology, as well as social justice advocates and practitioners who contend with racial colorblindness in real-world contexts.