A Developmental Perspective on the Racial Socialization of White Children: Linguistic and Social-Cognitive Considerations

There is often debate about whether to talk about race and racism with children (a process called racial socialization), and what to say when having these discussions—particularly with White children. Here we argue that how parents have these discussions (and not just what they say) is also important to consider, because children might interpret messages differently depending on specific linguistic features. Specifically, we highlight the potential role of abstraction, generics, and modals as three features of language both researchers and parents might consider when thinking of racial socialization. We also highlight developmental shifts in how different linguistic features might be interpreted. Finally, we suggest some future directions for researchers, and recommendations for parents.