What is Internalized Racial Oppression and Why Don't We Study It? Acknowledging Racism's Hidden Injuries

TLDR

Sociology has long studied inequality, yet the internalization of racial oppression—key to reproducing racial inequality—has been largely ignored and remains a neglected, misunderstood component of racism. The article argues that defying the taboo is necessary for sociology to expose racism's hidden injuries and subtle mechanisms sustaining White privilege, and proposes a method to study internalized racism and resistance together within intersecting oppression. The author reviews internalized racism, illustrates it with examples, and uses critical social theory to analyze taboo causes—including a fixation on resistance, racial essentialism, and identity politics limitations—while proposing a method to study it alongside resistance.

Abstract

Despite sociology's longstanding interest in inequality, the internalization of racial oppression among the racially subordinated and its contribution to the reproduction of racial inequality has been largely ignored, reflecting a taboo on the subject. Consequently, internalized racism remains one of the most neglected and misunderstood components of racism. In this article, the author argues that only by defying the taboo can sociology expose the hidden injuries of racism and the subtle mechanisms that sustain White privilege. After reviewing the concept and providing examples of the phenomenon, the author draws on critical social theory to examine reasons for the taboo, such as a theoretical fixation on resistance, a penchant for racial essentialism, and the limitations of an identity politics. The author concludes by offering a method for studying internalized racism and resistance concurrently within the matrix of intersecting forms of oppression.