July 30, 2022
Time recently published an article co-authored by Evan Apfelbaum, Associate Professor of Management and Organizations, on the challenges that arise as children navigate the reality of racism.
“Our cultural fixation on labeling people as racist or not only reinforces the idea that people are either good or bad and that prejudice is unshakeable. We cannot treat the solution to racial divisions in society as an exercise in rooting out the bad apples.”
Evan Apfelbaum
Associate Professor, Management & Organizations
The article explores the possibility that children decrease cross-race encounters around the age of 10 as they begin to believe a person’s prejudice is permanent. Based on Evan’s research, children with this belief were less likely to interact with other races and had higher levels of anxiety with cross-race interactions compared to the children that believed prejudice isn’t permanent.
