Description:

IPR Spring 2023 Distinguished Public Policy Lecture

"The Mythology of Racial Progress"

by Jennifer Richeson, the Philip R. Allen Professor of Psychology and Director of the Social Perception & Communication Lab at Yale University, and IPR Faculty Adjunct

Abstract: Our perceptions of, beliefs about, and solutions for racial inequality in the United States are shaped, at least in part, by a mythology of racial progress. Central to this mythology is the dominant narrative that American society is automatically, if not naturally, making steady linear progress toward racial equality. In this distinguished lecture, Yale psychologist Jennifer Richeson argues that our fidelity to this narrative elicits a persistent pattern of willful ignorance regarding some present-day racial disparities, including the wealth gap between Black and White Americans. She will illuminate the psychological science that sustains the narrative as well as some of the consequences of efforts to disrupt it. Richeson also will discuss implications of the mythology of racial progress for efforts to engender actual racial equity in contemporary society.

Read more about the event, and learn more about past IPR distinguished lectures. 

Please note all IPR events this quarter will be held in-person only.