When Color‐conscious Meets Color‐blind: Millennials of Color and Color‐blind Racism. (3rd February 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cox, Jonathan M.
• Is Part Of: Sociological inquiry. Volume 92(2022)Supplement 1
• Page Start: 769
• Page End: 791
• Publication Date: 2021-02-03
• Subjects: Sociology -- Periodicals; 301
• DOI: 10.1111/soin.12411
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0038-0245

Abstract

Abstract : Most contemporary research suggests that white Americans overwhelmingly subscribe to color‐blind racial ideology; however, comparatively little is known about people of color. What is less known, however, is how color‐blindness is used by nonwhites: most existing work on color‐blindness and people of color (POC) focuses exclusively on African Americans, or investigates specific circumstances like interracial relationships. This current project helps to fill some of the gaps in current knowledge regarding nonwhites and color‐blindness by investigating how nonwhites utilize or reject color‐blind racial ideology. To this end, I analyze personal journals and interviews with 48 Latinx, Asian, black (including ethnically black), and multiracial college Millennials in order to understand how their racial and ethnic identities impact their ideological beliefs. Findings suggest that Millennials of color use color‐blindness infrequently as compared to their white peers, and their usage is very nuanced, inconsistent, and often contradictory. I discuss how POC are often bound by the dominant racial ideology of the U.S., such that it colors their perceptions largely through indirect means.