What Teachers Should Know about Racism, Prejudice, and Privilege: A Literature Review

Abstract

Although racial groupings are not biologically determined, socially constructed racial categorizations greatly influence an individual’s material conditions and lived experiences. Social, economic, political, and educational realms are stratified as a result of racism, or the racist structures embedded in institutions and policies that allow whites to control the majority of resources. The extent to which the dominant group is collectively privileged in the United States’ society is difficult for whites to fully comprehend due to their social position. Teacher candidates need to understand the ways in which economic and social manifestations of racism affect educational institutions, which in turn perpetuates the racial sorting of students. White preservice teachers in particular need to be guided to understand structural racism and white privilege so they can effectively teach culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse students. In this article, one teacher educator shares a review of the literature that helped her move beyond good intentions toward an anti-racist stance.