medicalizing racism

Author(s): james m. thomas

Source: Contexts , FALL 2014, Vol. 13, No. 4 (FALL 2014), pp. 24-29
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of the American Sociological Association

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24710579

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

Sage Publications, Inc. and American Sociological Association are collaborating with JSTOR to
digitize, preserve and extend access to Contexts

This content downloaded from

168.176.5.118 on Fri, 16 Jul 2021 14:03:15 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 In June of 2013, Riley Cooper, a wide receiver for the NFL's Philadelphia
Eagles, was caught on video at a Kenny Chesney concert shouting,
"I will jump that fence and fight every nigger in here, bro!" After a
massive public uproar about the scene, Cooper, who is white, released
a statement announcing that he would speak with "a variety of
professionals" in order to "help me better understand how I could
have done something that was so offensive, and how
I can start the healing pro- cess for everyone." His
team excused Cooper from activities so that he could
get expert help to "under- stand how his words hurt
so many."

edicalizingracis
edicalizing racismB

It was hardly the first time a high-profile figure
sought professional counseling after being associ
ated with an act of public racism. In 2006, while
performing at a West Hollywood comedy club,
Michael Richards, best known as Kramer from the
hit television series Seinfeld, lashed out at hecklers,
referring to them as "niggers." Afterward, Richards' publicist
quickly issued a statement announcing that his client would seek
psychiatric help. Paula Deen, Mel Gibson, and John Rocker also
pledged publicly to seek treatment for their racism—reflecting a
growing tendency to frame racist acts as a mental health issue.
How did racism come to be seen as psychopathological,
and how might that understanding influence efforts to combat
racism? With that question in mind, I examined mainstream print
media, and conference proceedings, presidential addresses, and
debates within the American Psychiatric Association from the
period immediately following World War II through the present.
I also analyzed public speeches by civil rights activists from the
late 1950s through the early 1970s.
Over time, this research shows, experts expressed
growing concern about the psychopathological
consequences of racism on victims, and the effects
of being racist—a mental health discourse that is
transforming our understanding of the nature and
by james m. thomas causes of racism. In this medicalized model, new
protocols focus on treating those who suffer from
the condition of racism. It is an understanding that reflects the
"new racism" of the post-civil rights era.
authoritarian personalities
Modern social science is often seen as having displaced
nineteenth century scientific racism. But while scientific rac
ism was collapsing due to a growing body of social scientific
research, the simultaneous redefinition of racism as a pathologi
cal condition was emerging.
In 1944, the American Jewish Committee held a two-day
conference on religion and racial prejudice whose purpose was
to examine the origins of extreme bigotry that led to the Holo
caust. Following this conference, the AJC commissioned the
Studies in Prejudice Series, a five volume set, with three volumes

24 contexts.org

This content downloaded from

168.176.5.118 on Fri, 16 Jul 2021 14:03:15 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
centered on examining the following question: What is it about Adorno, Lewin fled Germany when Hitler ascended to power
the psychology of individuals that may render them prejudiced? in 1933, taking a director position with the Commission on
The first volume of the study, which is perhaps the best known, Community Interrelations. Under Lewin's directorship, the CCI
was The Authoritarian Personality, written by Theodor Adorno collaborated with the American Jewish Committee. At an AJC

and three colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley.
Published in 1950, The Authoritarian Personality initiated
a major public debate. It argued that anti-Semitism and other
forms of extreme bigotry entail more than simply negative atti
tudes. They consist of "nuclear ideas"; central beliefs that have
primary significance, such as the belief that Jews are conniving,
blacks are lazy, or homosexuals are perverse. Once these nuclear
ideas are formed, they draw in other opinions and attitudes
to form a broader system
of beliefs, an "authoritarian
personality" that produces
1944 conference on religion and racial prejudice, Lewin and
Adorno were key contributors.
Lewin and Adorno's relationship, and Lewin's mentorship of
Alfred Marrow, help contextualize Marrow's comments on the
relationship between racism and mental health. Marrow's position
as the chair of what would later become the New York City Com
mission on Human Rights, and Wilkins' position with the most
influential civil rights organization in the country, provided them
with broad platform for pro
moting the claim that racism
is a mental health issue.

extreme hatred, including

racism, according to Adorno a sick society?
and his co-authors. By the late 1950s
The framework pro a significant number of
vided by The Authoritarian mental health researchers

Personality proved quite drew upon the framework

useful for several notable offered by The Authoritar
civil rights activists and ian Personality to situate
organizations at the time. racism within a "sick soci

Following the murder of ety" model of psychiatric

Emmett Till in 1955, then epidemiology. White and
NAACP Executive Secretary black mental health work

Roy Wilkins drew inspira ers active in the civil rights

tion from Adorno's work to movement also declared

suggest the hatred respon that racism was responsible

sible for Till's lynching was for creating and sustaining
a "virus, it's in the blood of many of these social ills.
the Mississippian." These claims reached
Is
Is racism
racisma mental
a mental
illness?
illness?
Some Some
psychologists
psychologists
would like
would
us to like
believe
us to believe
In September 1958, that
thatititis.is. a tipping point with the
Alfred J. Marrow, then passage of the 1963 Com
Chairman of the New York City Commission on Intergroup munity Mental Health Act, which was based on the notion that
Relations, addressed the Annual Conference of the National victims of racism experienced psychological stress for which
Urban League in Omaha, Nebraska. In his address, Marrow community-based mental health centers could provide treat
claimed that racism created "emotional havoc" for both its ment. A year later, during the Freedom Summer of 1964, over
one hundred physicians, nurses, and psychiatrists formed the
victims and perpetrators, and called for social scientists and
Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR), whose mission
policymakers to consider not only the "mental health effects
included providing mental health-care to blacks in segregated
of segregation on its victims," but also "the health impact on
the segregators." communities.

As a student, Marrow had studied under the German Psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint served as field director for the
Southern branch of MCHR from 1965-1966. In the pages of
American psychologist Kurt Lewin, one of the most prominent
pioneers of social and applied psychology in the modern era.
Ebony Magazine, The New York Times, and The Boston Globe,
Poussaint argued that racism was both a product of a sick
Prior to Hitler's ascension to power in 1933, Lewin worked in
society—and that it produced social sickness. Writing in The
Germany, and had strong ties to Frankfurt University's Institute
New York Times in 1967, Poussaint declared that racism had
for Social Research, where Theodor Adorno was an affiliate. Like

illustrations by Cassandra Conlin

Contexts, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 24-29. ISSN 1536-5042, electronic ISSN 1537-6052. © 2014 American
FALL 2014 contexts 25
Sociological Association, http://contexts.sagepub.com. DOI 10.1177/1536504214558213

This content downloaded from

168.176.5.118 on Fri, 16 Jul 2021 14:03:15 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 rendered
renderedAfrican
AfricanAmericans
Americansunable
unable
to express
to express
appropriate rage rage racism
appropriate racism as
asdiagnosis
diagnosis
for
for fear
fearof
ofthe
thethreat
threatofof
violence.
violence.
Because
Because
theythey
repressed
repressed
their their In
In 1969,
1969,aagroup
groupofofblack
black
psychiatrists,
psychiatrists,
Poussaint
Poussaint
among
among
anger,
anger, he
heargued,
argued,black
black
Americans
Americans
hadhad
developed
developed
a core formform them,
a core them, presented
presenteda alist
list
ofof
demands
demands
to the
to the
American
American
Psychiatric
Psychiatric
of
of psychological
psychologicalself-hatred.
self-hatred. Association
Associationatattheir
theirannual
annual
meeting.
meeting.
They
They
urged
urged
the APA
the APA
to to
Poussaint
Poussaintwas
wasnot
notthe
the
only
only
scholar-activist
scholar-activist
making thesethese acknowledge
making acknowledgethat
thatracism
racism
is is
thethe
"major
"major
mental
mental
health
health
problem
problem
claims.
claims. In
In1965,
1965,Kenneth
KennethB. B.
Clark,
Clark,
well-known
well-known
for his
fordoll
his studies
doll studies of
of this
this country,"
country,"and
and
toto
include
include
extreme
extreme
bigotry
bigotry
as a recognized
as a recognized
of
of the
the 1930s
1930sand
and1940s,
1940s,wrote
wrotean an
editorial
editorial
for for
Ebony
Ebony Magazinemental
Magazine mental illness
illnesswithin
withinthe
the
Diagnostics
Diagnostics
andand
Statistics
Statistics
Manual
Manual
declaring
declaringthat
thatracism
racismproduces
produces
paranoia,
paranoia,
and and
is itself
is itself
a type
a type
of of(DSM).
paranoia.
paranoia.That
Thatyear
yearAssistant
AssistantSecretary
Secretary
of Labor
of Labor
Daniel
Daniel
Patrick
Patrick The APA endorsed this "general spirit of reform and redress
Moynihan
Moynihanpublished
publishedhishis
infamous
infamous
TheThe
Negro
Negro
Family,
Family, whichof racial inequities in American psychiatry." However, they
which
later
later became
becameknown
knownas as
the
the
Moynihan
Moynihan
Report.
Report.
He claimed
He claimed
that that rejected the black psychiatrists' desire to classify extreme bigotry
the
the legacy
legacyof
ofracist
racistsocial
social
and
and
economic
economic
policies
policies
had created
had created
a a as a mental illness. In order for racism to be considered a mental
"tangled
"tangledpathology"
pathology"within
withinblack
black
families.
families.
Moynihan
Moynihan concludedillness, the APA decreed, racism must deviate from normative
concluded
the
the "broken
"brokenfamily
familystructure"
structure"
of of
black
black
America
America
would
would eventuallybehavior.
eventually
produce
produce"immature,
"immature,criminal,
criminal,
andand
neurotic
neurotic
behavior"
behavior"
among
among In explaining why they rejected the psychiatrists' request,
black
black children.
children. the APA cited a series of studies conducted by Harvard social
Although
Althoughthe
theMoynihan
MoynihanReport
Report
came
came
under
under
heavy
heavy criticism,psychologist Thomas Pettigrew. Interviewing residents of eight
criticism,
many
many civil
civilrights
rightsleaders
leaders
at at
thethe
time
time
echoed
echoed
its claim
its claim social social small towns in the North and South in the late 1950s, Pettigrew
that that

HEALTHY
HEALTHY "DEPRESSION
•DEPRESSION BIPOLAR
BIPOLAR RACISM
RACISM

pathologies
pathologies were
were
leading
leading
to theto
psychosocial
the psychosocial
alienationalienation
of
hadblack of black
tested, among other things, whether Southerners exhibited
youth.
youth.InIn
hishis
1967
1967
speech
speech
at theat
annual
the annual
meeting meeting stronger
of the authoritarian
of the American American personalities than Northerners. He con
Psychiatric
Psychiatric Association,
Association,
Dr. Martin
Dr. Martin
Luther King,
LutherJr.,King, cluded
declared
Jr., that Southerners
that
declared that exhibited a higher level of prejudice
alienation
alienation among
among
blacks
blacks
was responsible
was responsible
for the recent
for toward
the
wave
recent wave
blacks than their Northern counterparts, but that levels
of
of urban
urbanriots.
riots.
Declaring
Declaring
that white
that Americans
white Americans
valued property
of valued property
authoritarianism among these groups was virtually identical. In
over
overtheir
theirfellow
fellow
citizens,
citizens,
King argued
King argued
that urban
that sum,was
rioting
urbanbecause racismwas
rioting was normal behavior, it does not constitute
a mental illness.

As
As social
socialscientific
scientific
research
researchscientific
displaced
displaced
SCientiflC Despite Despite
the APA's refusal
the APA's refusalto consider
to consider
racism to be pathological, many clini
racism,
racism, racism
racism
became
became condition.
a pathological
a pathological condition.
cal workers began to develop treatment
models for the effects of racism. One of
aa form
formofof
"emotional
"emotional
catharsis"
catharsis"
for blacks,
for and
blacks,
was meant
and
the was
to meant
more infamous to
examples occurred in the aftermath of the
shock
shockwhite
whitesociety.
society.
By the
Byend
theofend
the of
1960s,
thethe
1960s, 1967
"sick society"
the deadly
"sick shoot out between Houston police officers and
society"
model,
model,popular
popularamong
among
scholars
scholars
and activists
and activists students
alike, hadalike,
laid the at all-black
had laid the Texas Southern University. Mayor Louie
foundation
foundation forfor
a psychopathological
a psychopathological
framework withinWelch
framework whichcalled upon
within Blair Justice, a Rice University psychologist,
which
to situate the "new racism." to try to alleviate tensions between Houston police officers and
Houston's black community. By 1969, teams of psychologists
encouraged heated exchanges among participants that were

26 contexts.org

This content downloaded from

168.176.5.118 on Fri, 16 Jul 2021 14:03:15 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
designed
designed to move
to move
deep deep words, they argued, racism
seated
seated prejudices
prejudices
into the
into the is addictive.

open.
open. One
One
yearyear
later,later,
based based Dobbins and Skillings
upon
upontests
tests
of police
of police
atti atti described four signs of this
tudes that demonstrated addiction: rationalization ("I
a small decrease in iden know we need to increase

tifiable prejudices, Welch diversity, in general, but why

declared the program to be do I have to play a part?");

a success. selective comparison
selective comparison ("I
("I
Meanwhile, within can't be racist, because I've
the ranks of the APA, the never called any Mexican
organization's official posi a wetback"); protecting
tion on racism remained the source of addiction

highly contentious. In 1971, ("I know I have White

Vice President Charles privilege, but what do you
Prudhomme editorialized want me to, give it up?");
in The American Journal and minimization ("I'm not
of Psychiatry that racism being racist, I'm just telling
"parallels and is an analog it like it is"). Meanwhile,
of psychosocial develop UCLA psychologist Edward
ment." At the APA's 1979 Dunbar had begun develop
annual meeting, Carl Bell ing a "prejudice scale" to
gave a hotly debated paper measure what he termed

that was inspired by The "prejudiced personality."

Authoritarian Personality, The highest scoring indi
claiming that racists suffer viduals distrusted financial

advice from racial and ethnic minorities, experienced job loss due
from narcissistic personality disorder, and seek constant praise
from authority figures in order to bolster their self-esteem. to inappropriate interactions with customers of color, and even
expressed support for the Oklahoma City bombing.
Finally, in a presidential address at the 1980 annual meeting,
Alan Stone discussed the APA's internal debate over whether By the early 2000s, racism had several clinical names, includ
to recognize racism as a psychiatric problem, a social problem, ing "prejudice personality" and "intolerant personality disorder"
or both. It is the APA's professional obligation "to confront this and pathological bias, but no official diagnosis in the DSM. The
conflict openly," he declared. While Stone's remarks did little APA considered adding "pathological bias" to the 2013 DSM
to resolve the debate, several scholars, including Poussaint and V under a rubric that would have included racism, sexism, and
Bell, remained critical of the APA's decision
to keep racism out of the DSM III and IV,
published in 1980 and 1994.
By the early 2000s, racism had several clinical
Yet by the early 1990s, clinical prac names, including "prejudice personality" and
titioners had proposed several diagnostic
tools that were designed to identify and "intolerant personality disorder."
treat racism. In a 1991 article, "Racism
as a Disease," Judith Skillings and James Dobbins proposed aheterosexism, though it finally decided against doing so. None
clinical diagnosis that identified four symptoms: a belief one's theless, the 2012 Oxford Handbook of Personality Disorders
heritage is superior to another; when racism becomes infectious included an entire chapter on it.
without any conscious sense of antipathy by its host; when's
one's perceptions are distorted or confused; and when racism anti-racism in the era of "pathological racism"
robs its hosts and targets of their mental and emotional well The increasing authority given to medicine and psychology
being. The access to power which racism affords, they argued,since World War II led to the rise of medical and psychological
makes racists dependent upon that source of power. In other explanations for human behavior. Developments within medicine

FALL 2014 contexts 27

This content downloaded from

168.176.5.118 on Fri, 16 Jul 2021 14:03:15 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 and science not only produced new understandings of human
behavior, but also new insights into how to treat these behaviors.
The number of licensed psychiatrists in the United States
increased by over 30 percent, the number of licensed clinical
psychologists nearly tripled, and the number of clinical social
workers increased from 25,000 to 80,000 between 1975 and
1990, according to Stuart Kirk and Herb Kutchins' 1992 book,
The Selling of DSM. Furthermore, according to the Bureau of
U.S. Labor Statistics, job growth for clinical psychologists and
psychiatrists is estimated between 20-28 percent through 2020.
Along with the expansion of mental health professions,
the DSM itself has also
grown. The first edition,
which was released in
1952, was 130 pages in
propranolol scored significantly lower on the Implicit Attitude
Test than did those taking the placebo. "Such research raises the
tantalizing possibility that our unconscious racial attitudes could
be modulated using drugs," wrote the lead researcher. The Cali
fornia Department of Corrections has in fact treated inmates with
antipsychotics in an effort to reduce racism and homophobia.
The ongoing efforts to diagnose and treat racism as a psy
chopathological condition should trouble anti-racist activists. In
her 2012 book On Being Included, Sarah Ahmed cautions anti
racist efforts to remain focused on systemic and structural causes.
While individuals with "bad attitudes" certain exist, she argues,
focusing on the "bad
apples" underestimates
racism's scope and scale,
and leaves us with a weak

length, and included 106 account of how racism is

mental disorders. The sec reproduced over time and
ond edition, released 16 across cultural and social

years later, recognized contexts. As Ahmed writes,

182 mental disorders. The "The very identification of
DSM V, published last year, racism with individuals

proposes over 300 mental becomes a technology for

disorders. When consid the reproduction of racism
ered alongside the growth of institutions."

of the global pharmaceuti There is no denying

cal industry ($500 billion in the psychological effects of
2011), the context of the racism on minority popu
pathologization of racism lations, or racism's impact
is clearer. There is a great on how members of domi

deal of profit to be made nant racial groups perceive

from individualized medi and interact with minor

calized understandings of ity populations. This does

this social phenomenon. not prove that racism is a
The search for a psychopathological con
"cure" for racism was dition, however, that can
revealed in a 2012 experiAfter
After racist
racistgaffes,
gaffes,celebrities
celebrities
such
such
as Paula
as Paula
DeenDeen
often
often publicly be treated with behavioral
publicly
ment by researchers at declare
declare that
thatthey're
they'reseeking
seeking
therapy.
therapy. and drug therapies.
Oxford University that gen Recent controversies

surrounding overt racist remarks and action, including those

erated a great deal of public attention. In the experiment, scientists
by beta
gave half of their subjects the drug propranolol, a common Donald Sterling, former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers,
demonstrate that many Americans see rac
ism as an individualized phenomenon, and
In the "new racism" of the new millennium,
believe that what counts as racism are the

racism is often classified as "abnormal behavior" negative attitudes, beliefs, and expressions
of lone racists—rather than systemic and
which deserves psychological treatment. structural explanations. The increasingly
popular belief that we now live in a "post
blocker used to treat heart disease, while the other half received
racial" society makes this even more prevalent.
a placebo. They were then administered the Implicit Attitude In the "new racism" of the new millennium, identifiable
racism is often classified as "abnormal behavior" which deserves
Test, which measures unconscious racism. Participants taking

28 contexts.org

This content downloaded from

168.176.5.118 on Fri, 16 Jul 2021 14:03:15 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
The
Thecontroversy
controversyover former
over former
Los Angeles
Los
Clippers'
Angelesowner
Clippers'
Donald Sterling's
owner racist
Donald
remarks
Sterling's
is an example
racist
of how
remarks
Americans
is see
an racism
example of how American
as
asanan
"individual's"
"individual's"
problem.
problem.

psychological treatment—which makes the continued signifi Duster, Troy. Backdoor to Eugenics, 2nd Edition (Routledge,
2003). Provides empirical analysis of eugenics' lasting influence
cance of covert and structural racism even more invisible. But in
on social policy, including welfare reform, public health, and the
truth, the United States, along with most of industrialized West, criminal justice system.
has been shaped by an enduring pattern of racial rule. Racial Gilman, Sander. Difference and Pathology: Stereotypes of Sexual
minorities have been subordinated, and whites have benefited ity, Race, and Madness (Cornell University Press, 1985). Traces
from that subordination. the history of stereotypes, demonstrating their origins in ideas of
women, Jews, and blacks as carriers of disease and illness.
Individual treatment protocols, including behavioral and
Rose, Nikolas. Inventing Ourselves: Psychology, Power, and Per
drug therapies, target the symptoms of institutional racism
sonhood (Cambridge University Press, 1998). Traces the historical
rather than its causes. In order to truly understand the origins role the psy-disciplines—psychology and psychiatry in particu
and reproduction of contemporary racial hierarchies, we need lar—played in transforming personhood into something that can
be treated, worked on, and reshaped by clinical practitioners and
models that are historically grounded, culturally informed, and
therapeutic protocols.
politically attuned.

James M. Thomas is in the sociology and anthropology department at the University

recommended resources
of Mississippi. He studies historical formations and contemporary articulations of
Ahmed, Sara. On Being Included: Racism and Diversity In Institu
race, racism, and difference.
tional Life (Duke University Press, 2012). Investigates the experi
ences of those charged with doing diversity work, and how insti
tutionalizing diversity initiatives can mask racism.

Conrad, Peter. The Medicalization of Society: On the Transfor

mation of Human Conditions into Treatable Disorders (The Johns
Hopkins University Press, 2007). Illustrates the transformation of
human conditions and problems into medical problems over the
past several decades.

FALL 2014 contexts 29

This content downloaded from

168.176.5.118 on Fri, 16 Jul 2021 14:03:15 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms