A Socioecological Psychology of Racism: Making Structures and History More Visible

Psychology has been accused of “psychologizing” racism. Here, we summarize the argument that Psychology routinely neglects structural racism and historical legacies of racism. We then discuss two cases—healthcare and police use of force—in which studying individual bias could benefit from incorporating a focus on structures and history. We close by echoing others who have advocated that Psychology move forward with a better integrated view of racism; in particular, we suggest a socioecological view that contextualizes individual bias within the relevant realities of historical and structural racism.