I think it’s easy for people who have internalized prejudice against a certain group, but don’t consciously endorse that prejudice, to frame the impulses that internalized prejudice provides them as concerns about what the prejudiced public will think or do. And those concerns aren’t always ill founded! But also, at some point you have to like…have convictions. Or you don’t have to, I guess, you can be the shape the pressures around you create. But I don’t think you should, I think you should have internal structure
scenario: my sister is dating a black guy
conservative grandma: and he’s black. I don’t think that’s a good thing.
liberal grandma: black people face so much discrimination, I don’t want her to have to deal with that
parents telling their daughters not to cut their hair short / sons to grow their hair long as people will judge them negatively for it (not us obviously, but other people…)
yeah exactly.
it’s the same thought process as “don’t do that with your house because it brings down the property values.”
do I personally think your house will be worse/uglier/less worth living near, if you paint it purple/set up sculptures in the yard/get a bunch of roommates who are not Upper-Class People? no, but… someone will. Someone will think this makes your house and the ones around it less valuable. And because people (unspecified who) are thinking that, that is what will in fact happen to the value. because that is how economics works.
and it is kinda sorta how prejudice works too… if “what a house can sell for, generally” translates to “how much respect a person can get, generally”
it’s all made-up, but with very real consquences.
and the belief in it is very self-fulfilling. even if you don’t think you WANT it to be.