White guilt

White guilt refers to the concept of individual or collective guilt often said to be felt by some White people for the perceived racist treatment of people of color by Whites both historically and presently. [cite video |people=Shelby Steele |date2= |month2= |year2= |title=A World of Difference: White Guilt
url=http://streams.wpsx.psu.edu/White_Guilt10102.html |format= |medium= |publisher=WPSU-FM |location=internet |accessdate=2007-09-30 |time= |quote= ] The term is generally used in pejorative way (and in a partisan fashion within American political circles), usually by those who criticize efforts to assist non-Whites, particularly with policies or decisions the critics believe give unfair advantages or benefits that whites would not have in the same situation.Fact|date=April 2008 The term is controversial and its use is disputed in many circles. Fact|date=April 2008

The term is often applied to White Americans regarding the history of enslavement of African Americans, and colonization and displacement of Native Americans and Native Hawaiians.Fact|date=April 2008 In addition, White guilt may be experienced by citizens of European countries whose nations participated in the slave trade and/or colonized portions of Asia and South Asia, Sub Saharan Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Americas.Fact|date=April 2008 White guilt has been described as one of several psychosocial costs of racism for White individuals along with the ability to have empathic reactions towards racism, and fear of non-Whites. [Lisa Spanierman. [http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ684874&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&accno=EJ684874 Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites Scale] . Journal of Counseling Psychology. 51(2):249-262 Apr 2004.]

Non-political usage

Judith Katz, the author of "White Awareness: Handbook for Anti-Racism Training", is highly critical of what she calls self-indulgent White guilt fixations. Her concerns about White guilt led her to move from Black-White group encounters to all-White groups in her anti-racism training. She also avoided using non-White people to reeducate Whites, she said, because she found that this led Whites to focus on getting acceptance and forgiveness rather than changing their own actions or beliefs. [ [http://www.iupjournals.org/hypatia/hyp13-3.html What Should White People Do?] "Hypatia." 13(3)]

Statements about racial inequality may be framed as either White privileges or Black disadvantages, when framed as White privileges a 2005 study found that the statements resulted in greater collective guilt and lower racism compared to a Black disadvantage framing. The findings suggest that representing inequality in terms of outgroup disadvantage allows privileged group members to avoid the negative psychological implications of inequality and supports prejudicial attitudes. [Adam A. Powell "et al." [http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/4/508 Inequality as Ingroup Privilege or Outgroup Disadvantage: The Impact of Group Focus on Collective Guilt and Interracial Attitudes] . "Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin". 31(4):508-521 (2005)]

A report in the Washington Post describes the exploitation of White guilt by con artists [Lou Cannon. [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/136950092.html?dids=136950092:136950092&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=JAN+16%2C+1978&author=By+Lou+Cannon+Washington+Post+Staff+Writer&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Phony+Ad+Salesmen+Prey+on+'White+Guilt'&pqatl=google Phony Ad Salesmen Prey on "White Guilt"] . "The Washington Post." January 16 1978. Accessed September 30 2007.] ::"Telephone and mail solicitors, trading on 'White guilt' and on government pressure to advertise in minority-oriented publications, are inducing thousands of businessmen to buy ads in phony publications"

Partisan politics in the United States

The concept of "White guilt" in the United States tends to be framed in a partisan manner and tends primarily to be used by conservative writers to explain and criticize White liberals with regards to their relations with the African Americans population.

Conservative usage

Shelby Steele, a conservative African American political writer, discussed the concept extensively in his 2006 book "." Steele criticizes "White guilt" saying that it is nothing more than an alternative interpretation of the concept of "Black power": :"Whites (and American institutions) must acknowledge historical racism to show themselves redeemed by it, but once they acknowledge it, they lose moral authority over everything having to do with race, equality, social justice, poverty and so on. [...] The authority they lose transfers to the 'victims' of historical racism and becomes their great power in society. This is why White guilt is quite literally the same thing as Black power." [Shelby Steele. (2006) . HarperCollins. [http://books.google.com/books?id=KUDIisq-KksC&dq=&pg=PP1&ots=q3jbHSbh8T&sig=SLB12DHTo2bHNr_AJjSxd6LC9Mc&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fhl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft%253Aen-US%26q%3D%2522White%2Bguilt%2522%26btnG%3DSearch&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title#PPA24,M1 Except from Chapter 4: Certain Knowledge, p24] . Accessed September 30 2007.]

George F. Will, a conservative American political columnist, gives this definition of "White guilt"::" [White guilt is] a form of self-congratulation, where Whites initiate 'compassionate policies' toward people of color, to showcase their innocence to racism." [cite news |first=George F. |last=Will |authorlink=George F. Will |coauthors= |title=White Guilt, Deciphered |url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12995478/site/newsweek/page/0/ |work= |publisher=MSNBC |date=June 5, 2006 |accessdate=2007-09-30 ]

Liberal criticism

Commentator Sunny Hundal, writing for "The Guardian", states that it is "reductionist" to assign political opinions to a collective guilt such as "White guilt" and that few people on the left actually hold the views being ascribed to them by the conservative writers who expound on the concept of "White guilt" and its implications. [Sunny Hundal. [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sunny_hundal/2007/09/the_guilt_free_liberal.html The guilt-free liberal] . The Guardian. September 3 2007. Accessed September 30 2007.] Hundal concludes::"Not much annoys me more than the stereotype that to be liberal is to be full of guilt. To be socially liberal, in my view, is to be more mindful of "compassion" and "empathy" for others."

Further reading

* [http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/25/4/500 White Guilt: Its Antecedents and Consequences for Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action]
* [http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/29/1/117 White Guilt and Racial Compensation: The Benefits and Limits of Self-Focus]
* [http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=107 Teaching White Students About Racism: The Search for White Allies and the Restoration of Hope]

See also

*Affirmative action
*White privilege
*Whiteness studies
*Psychometrics of racism
*Racial microaggression
*Reparations for slavery

References