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Responses to racism : a taxonomy of coping styles used by aboriginal Australians

journal contribution
posted on 2004-01-01, 00:00 authored by David MellorDavid Mellor
The author takes up the challenge from social psychologists to explore the coping responses of those who experience racism. Previous attempts to provide taxonomies of responses to racism-discrimination-oppression are reviewed. An analysis of data derived from semistructured interviews conducted with 34 Indigenous Australians that explored experiences of racism and emotional and behavioral responses is reported, and a taxonomy of coping made up of 3 broad categories is presented. The defining feature of these categories is the purpose of the responses contained therein: to defend the self, to control or contain the reaction, or to confront the racism. It is argued that this may be a more useful way to understand responses to racism than taxonomies previously proposed.

History

Journal

American journal of orthopsychiatry

Volume

74

Issue

1

Pagination

56 - 71

Publisher

American Orthopsychiatric Association

Location

New York, N.Y.

ISSN

0002-9432

eISSN

1939-0025

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2004, John Wiley and Sons