Racial socialization across the life course: insights from three countries

Indigenous, migrant, and minoritized racial/ethnic peoples experience pervasive racism. Racism prompts families to prepare children for these experiences through racial socialization. In this paper we analyse data from eleven focus groups with 60 Indigenous and minoritized racial/ethnic older people in the UK, the US, and Aotearoa/NZ to explore how racial discrimination over the life course influences racial socialization. Examining experiences remembered from different developmental stages (child, parent, grandparent) reveals two patterns key to life course theory. Firstly, interpretations of experience are shaped by the life stage in which they are experienced. Secondly, these interpretations are historically located. These patterns influence the ways that racial socialization is experienced in intergenerational families. Socialization experiences are context dependent; they reflect prevailing social and historical conditions and personal histories, contributing to the difficulties in preparing others to respond to racism and racial discrimination.