Measuring interpersonal racism: An
Indigenous Australian case study
Dr Yin Paradies
Senior Research Fellow
McCaughey Centre
University of Melbourne
What is racism?



Racism is the inequitable distribution of opportunity,
benefit or resources across ethnic/racial groups
Racism occurs through avoidable and unfair actions
that : (i) further disadvantage minority ethnic/racial
groups; or (ii) further advantage dominant
ethnic/racial groups
Racism is expressed through attitudes, beliefs,
behaviours, norms and practices and may be either
intentional or unintentional
Internalised racism
Interpersonal racism Systemic racism
Acceptance of
attitudes, beliefs or
ideologies about the
inferiority of one’s own
ethnic/racial group
Interactions between
people that maintain
and reproduce
avoidable and unfair
inequalities across
ethnic/racial groups
Believing that African
people are naturally less
intelligent than White
people
Being racially abused when Young Indigenous
walking or driving in the
Victorians are 2-3 times
street
more likely to be arrested
and charged with an offence
Requirements,
conditions, practices,
policies or processes
that maintain and
reproduce avoidable
and unfair inequalities
across ethnic/racial
groups
Experiencing racism
Racism: Indigenous Australians
Education
(%)
Workplace
(%)
50
50
45
45
40
40
35
35
30
30
25
25
20
15
20
36
10
15
15
5
0
29
10
16
5
0
Indigenous
Non-Indigenous
Indigenous
Non-Indigenous
Source: Forrest & Dunn 2004
Racism: Indigenous Australians
Housing
(%)
Policing
(%)
50
50
45
45
40
40
35
35
30
30
25
25
20
20
15
15
10
21
5
10
6
0
Indigenous
Non-Indigenous
23
5
6
0
Indigenous
Non-Indigenous
Source: Forrest & Dunn 2004
Racism: Indigenous Australians
Shop/Restaurant
(%)
Sport/Public Event
(%)
50
50
45
45
40
40
35
35
30
30
25
25
20
20
15
33
10
15
16
5
0
32
10
14
5
0
Indigenous
Non-Indigenous
Indigenous
Non-Indigenous
Source: Forrest & Dunn 2004
Racism: Indigenous Australians
Treated with distrust
(%)
Called names/insulted
(%)
50
50
45
45
40
40
35
35
30
30
25
25
20
20
15
31
10
15
14
5
0
37
24
10
5
0
Indigenous
Non-Indigenous
Indigenous
Non-Indigenous
Source: Forrest & Dunn 2004
2008 NATSISS


In 2008, 27% of Indigenous respondents aged 15
years and over reported having experienced
discrimination in the previous 12 months
The most common situations or places where
discrimination was experienced included the general
public (11%), police/security personnel/courts of
law (11%), and at work or when applying for work
(8%)
2001-2 WAACHS


21.5% of 1073 Indigenous young people aged
12-17 years reported racism (treated badly or
refused service due to being Aboriginal) in past
six months (WAACHS)
Highest prevalence at school, in
shops/shopping centres, on public transport, in
the street, at home and when playing sport
Self-reported racism
Study
Location
Measurement
NATSIHS 2004-5
National
single item
NATSISS 2002-3
National
single item
WAACHS 2001-2
WA
single item
16
18
22
NATSISS 2008
National
multi-item
27
Dunn et al. 2003
Qld/NSW
single item
LSIC 2009
National
single item
WA
single item
Paradies et al. 2008
Darwin
multi-item
30
31
40
70
Forrest et al. 2007
National
multi-item
79
Ziersch et al. 2008
Adelaide
multi-item
93
Larson et al. 2007
Prevalence of racism %
The challenge of measurement
 Racism can be subtle, unintentional, unwitting
and even unconscious
 A perception of a racism event may be caused by
other factors
 Objectively racist events may not be perceived as
such by those involved
Exposure to Racism




Timing: intrauterine, infancy, childhood, adolescence
etc.
Intensity: degree of induced mental or physical stress
(i.e. cognitive or allostatic load)
Frequency: acute/chronic, sporadic/regular, weekly,
monthly, yearly
Duration: fleeting, prolonged, constant, cumulative
Characteristics of Racism

Form: (il)legal, blatant/subtle, (in)direct, vicarious,
(c)overt, (un)intentional, (in)action

Level: internalised, inter-personal, systemic

Expression: stereotype, prejudice, discrimination


Setting: domestic, educational, employment, justice,
bureaucratic, housing, health, retail, recreation, media
Perpetrators: family, friends, same/other racial groups,
neighbours, acquaintances,employers/ees, peers,
strangers, officials, practices, policies, laws
Cognitive reactions to racism


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rejecting dominant ideology, strengthened
ethnoracial identity, system blame, imagining
responses to racism
hyper-vigilance, attribution anxiety, denial of
racism, self-blame
adopting dominant ideology, weakened
ethnoracial identity, resigned acceptance
Attributional Ambiguity


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Full knowledge is usually lacking about any
specific interpersonal interaction
Ambiguity and uncertainty regarding the
attribution of an experience as racist or not can
lead to worry, rumination and hyper-vigilance
Beyond the initial experience, these processes are
health damaging in themselves
Racism-related vigilance

In relation to racism, how often do you:
 think
in advance about the kinds of problems you
are likely to experience?
 try
to prepare for possible insults before leaving
home?
 carefully
 try
watch what you say and how you say it?
to avoid certain social situations and places?
Affective reactions to racism

contempt, amusement, sorrow/sympathy,
strengthened

anger, annoyance, frustration

shame, self-hatred, humiliation, anxiety, fear

powerlessness, hopelessness, confusion,
depression
2004-5 NATSIHS

How usually feel when treated badly because
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander:

Angry
67%

Sorry for the perpetrator
31%

Sad
28%

Ashamed/worried
17%

Sick
12%
Behavioural responses to racism

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passing, avoidance, alienation from others,
over/under achievement (striving), risktaking/self-harming activities
verbal, physical, or legal confrontation
praying, meditation, utilising social
networks/safe spaces, expression through
writing or art
2004-5 NATSIHS

What usually do when treated badly because
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander:

Talk to family/friends about it
38%

Try to avoid the person/situation
33%

Try to do something about the perpetrator(s)
30%

Just forget about it
28%

Keep it to yourself
18%

Try to change the way you are/things you do
9%
Demographic variation in racism



Respondents of higher SEP and who spoke
primarily English at home were more likely to
report racism in the last year
People who lived in urban areas, were unmarried,
middle-aged, Stolen Generation, identified with a
tribal group and recognised a traditional country
were also more likely to report racism
Males were more likely to report racism in the
WAACHS
Inter-personal racism
Consistent reporting


Only 48% of those who reported experiencing racism in the
NATSIHS also reported experiencing racism as a stressor
for self, family or friends in a separate item
Given valid responses, one explanation is that only about
half of those reporting racism in the first item found it to be
a stressful experience as reported in the second item
Inter-personal racism
Consistent reporting

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In a study of 50 White and 50 African American veterans
with diabetes, 12% of those reported no discrimination on a
single item did report discrimination on a multi-item
measure
Furthermore, 6% of those who reported no discrimination
on the multi-item measure did report discrimination on the
single-item measure (Hausmann et al. 2010)
Inter-personal racism
Timeframes of exposure measurement
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The handful of studies to date relating to Indigenous
Australians suggest inconsistent reporting of racism over
different reference periods
40% over 4 weeks (Larson et al. 2007)
22% over 6 months (2001-2 WAACHS)
12% and 16% over 12 months (2004-5 NATSIHS)
18% over 12 months (2002 NATSISS)
27% over 12 months (2008 NATSISS)
70-100% over 12 months (2010-11 LEAD survey)
Inter-personal racism
Timeframes of exposure measurement

When should a relative or absolute timeframe be used?

Relative: never, sometimes, often, very often

Absolute: never, once a month/week/day

For absolute timeframes we need to be sure of role
occupancy (e.g. for someone employed a day a week racism
‘once a week’ is more relative exposure than for a full-time
worker)
Inter-personal racism
Scope and terminology

Should the term ‘felt that’ be used to emphasise the
subjective perception of racism?

Treated ‘badly’ or ’unfairly’ or ‘discriminated against’

Assessed for self and/or family and/or friends?

Should racism be measured as a ‘stressor’ or in
relation to emotional/physical upset (e.g. Larson et
al. 2007) or should stress be measured separately?
Influences on self-reported racism
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The two types of reporting biases are vigilance bias and
minimisation bias
Empirical evidence supports the predominance of
minimisation bias
That is, experiences of racism are generally reported less
often than they in fact occur
Influences on self-reported racism
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It has been shown that a stronger racial identity and domain
priming (i.e. the explicit use of race terminology) increases
the reporting of racism while self-deception and selfaffirmation reduce such reporting
Factors such as neuroticism, hostility, cynicism, social
desirability or impression management have also been found
to partially (but not entirely) account for the association
between racism and health
Stages of attribution

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Shariff-Marco et al (2011) compared one-stage (an item
on experiences of racism) versus two-stage (an item
about discrimination in general with a follow-up to
attribute this to race as one of a number of reasons)
Among those administered one-stage, 49% reported
racism compared to 21% among those administered
two-stage
Three stage: differential treatment attributed to
discrimination attributed to race (Bastos et al. 2011)
Perpetrating racism
Interpersonal Racism Against
Indigenous people
 5000 respondents in the 2001 NSW/Qld Racism
Survey and 4000 respondents in the 2006 Victorian
Racism Survey were asked:
 Would you be concerned if a close relative were to
marry an Indigenous person?
 28% in NSW/Qld and 25% in Vic expressed
concern at such an occurrence
Theories of Racism

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Stereotype content model (BIAS-map)
Social dominance/system-justification theory
Social identity/self-categorisation theory
Justification-suppression theory
Integrated threat theory
Realistic group conflict
Relative deprivation theory
Group position theory
Dual theory of prejudice
Attitudes & behaviours

Two meta-analyses and a study utilising multiple national
probability samples demonstrate significant correlations
(0.32-0.49) between prejudice and behavioural racism
(Dovidio et al. 1996; Schutz & Six 1996; Wagner et al.
2008)
Is racism socially desirable?
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Among 150 German respondents in the early 2000s, 43%
perceived positive and 37% negative racial attitudes to be
more socially desirable, with 20% assuming there were no
socially desirable response.
Studies from the U.S. using the list method indicate that a
third of respondents perceive racism to be socially desirable
but that this is likely to be an under-estimate
Increased reporting of racism in interviewer vs. selfadministered surveys in the DRUID study: OR 2.0 (95% CI
1.1-3.7, n=219); with 39% self-administered, the RR~4.5.
Key constructs

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Attitudes, emotion, stereotypes, traits relating to other
racial groups, attitudes to diversity, racism and prejudice
In-group favouritism, out-group derogation, social
distance, personality factors, quantity and quality of
intergroup contact
Ideologies, motivation to respond without prejudice,
awareness of contemporary racism, intergroup fear/anxiety
Population segmentation
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10% old fashioned, 40% ambivalent, 40% supportive
(Markus 2010)
Race Progressives, Open Racists, Principled Conservatives,
Racial Resenters and Apoliticals (Neblo 2009)
Truly low prejudiced, aversive racists, principled
conservatives and modern racists (Song Hing 2008)
Individualism, integrationism, assimilationism,
segregationism and exclusionism (Barrette et al. 2004)
Measuring racism project

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Compare various survey approaches to assessing racism
experiences with a gold standard (daily dairies and/or
structured life events interviews) combined with
cognitive interviews and implicit measures
A survey to examine relationships among constructs
and theories, develop a population segmentation model;
and determine a parsimonious scale for measuring
racist attitudes, beliefs and behaviours
Both arms of the project to utilise implicit measures
Questions
Contact: [email protected]