Work

How White people manage the weight of the past: The role of advantaged identity strategies in linking colonialism to current racial inequality

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Linking European colonialism to current racial inequality may pose identity challenges to White European people. Through mixed methods, we examined how White people in the Netherlands manage their advantaged ethno-racial identity in relation to linking colonialism to current racial inequality. In Study 1, using individual interviews (N = 24), we found that participants exhibited identity strategies described in previous theorising: prideful (strong identification), distancing (weak identification) and power-cognisant (critical identification). In Studies 2a and 2b, using surveys (N = 591), we built on Study 1's results and found using latent profile analysis that participants blended strategies, resulting in four profiles: prideful-distancing (or prideful-ambivalent), distancing, distancing-cognisant and power-cognisant. Identity profiles distinguished whether participants linked colonialism to current racial inequality and their ideological outlook. Those exhibiting prideful-distancing and distancing profiles unlinked colonialism, asserted existing racial equality and downplayed the role of ethno-racial categories in shaping people's lives. Those exhibiting distancing-cognisant and power-cognisant profiles linked colonialism to and acknowledged current racial inequality. Those exhibiting a power-cognisant profile uniquely recognised the importance of ethno-racial categories, displaying thus a markedly pro-egalitarian outlook. We conclude by discussing the implications of how White people's identity management relates to linking colonialism to current racial inequality and its legitimacy.

Source: British Journal of Social Psychology

DOI: 10.1111/bjso.70054

Authors: Enzo Cáceres Quezada, Judit Kende, Michael Boiger, Helena Hickson, Christin Hitschfel, Bertjan Doosje

Institutions: University of Amsterdam, Tilburg University, MSH Medical School Hamburg – University of Applied Sciences and Medical University

Language: English

Topic: Social and Intergroup Psychology

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,970