Black Teachers are Penalized when Advocating for Social Justice

In a new article, CSMRE faculty affiliate Rebecca J. Schlegel and her colleagues conducted four studies to examine how people rate applicants for a teaching position. They considered a number of factors, including the race of the applicants and raters, the raters’ politics, and the rationale the applicant gave for racial disparities in educational attainment (personal or social factors). Conservatives evaluated positively Black and White teachers who alluded to personal responsibility. Liberals, on the other hand, preferred the applicant who pointed to social determinants, but only when that person was White. The authors noted “Our findings suggest that Black applicants advocating for social change are penalized by both liberal and conservative evaluators.”

Rivera, G. N., Salter, P. S., Friedman, M., Crist, J., & Schlegel, R. J. (2021). When race trumps political ideology: Black teachers who advocate for social responsibility are penalized by both liberals and conservatives. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.