o 2.3.3. In comparison to ethnic minorities, white parents are more likely to hold colour-blind views of the world and therefore are less likely to engage in critical race discussions with their children, which often lead to their children internalising racial hierarchies without questioning them (Hrapczynski & Leslie, 2018; Katz, 2003). Developmental Intergroup Theory Developmental Intergroup Theory (Bigler & Liben, 2007) argues that people try to understand the world through classification and categorisation and uses this premise to further explore the explicit and implicit mechanisms by which children develop prejudices and biases at an early age. This theory suggests that: 2.3.4. • Children use distinct features (like gender, age and ethnicity) to develop categorisations. Group size is a distinct feature – ethnic minority groups are more obvious in society because they are smaller than majority groups, making them more likely targets for prejudice and stereotyping. • Cues in the wider environment are important to how people develop stereotypes. For example, people might develop stereotypes about groups when they see formal and de facto segregation (e.g., ethnic groups may be residentially segregated due to socioeconomic factors and may be more likely to reside in particular suburbs) and correlations between race, achievement, authority, power and crime. • Stereotypes develop when people apply essentialist thinking – assuming distinct cues correlated with certain groups means they share other attributes and qualities as well.10 Ingroup loyalty, tribalism and intergroup anxiety Racial categorisations and stereotypes become embedded when people form identities and factions around them (Roberts & Rizzo, 2020): • People often form ingroup preferences and loyalty to their own group and a desire to belong can motivate people to prioritise their ingroup norms above fairness, equality and inclusion • When different groups interact with each other, competition and conflict can arise, leading to intergroup tensions and anxiety about those in the outgroup 10 It is important to note there may be limitations in using this theory to understand what drives racism, as it does not unpack why certain categories have meaning and others do not. It assumes that categories are innate (they inherently exist) without deconstructing how categories are symbolic and are socially constructed and reproduced. www.malatest-intl.com Drivers of racism – March 2021 25