What Underlies Opposition to Critical Race Theory and What Might Reduce It?

The concept of systemic racism—that racial bias has been embedded in structures, institutions, laws, and policies—is the subject of critical race theory (CRT) and has proven to be controversial. Public debates and legislative efforts to ban CRT from classrooms and to restrict discussions of racial topics more broadly highlight the central role of education in reducing, or reproducing, racism.  Social psychologist Negin Toosi will conduct three different interventions in order to identify what might make people more likely to acknowledge the existence of systemic racial inequality and support teaching about it. She will conduct a randomized controlled trial for her study.