From Silence to Antiracism: Mapping White Racial Socialization In Families

Background and Purpose
Research on ethnic–racial socialization (ERS) has extensively documented how racially minoritized caregivers prepare youth to navigate racism. In contrast, much less attention has been given to how White parents socialize their children about race, whiteness, and racial justice. As scholarship increasingly calls for explicitly examining whiteness within family racial socialization processes, there is a need to synthesize the emerging literature on White racial socialization (WRS). The purpose of this study was to identify and categorize patterns of WRS and examine how these patterns vary in their engagement with structural racism and racial justice.

Methods
A scoping review guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) framework was conducted to synthesize research on White racial socialization in the United States. After five rounds of abstract and reference list screening, 43 peer-reviewed articles were included in the final dataset. These studies represented diverse methodological approaches, including conceptual papers, qualitative interviews, survey analyses, ethnographies, and intervention studies. Articles were systematically analyzed to identify recurring themes in the motivations, messages, and practices White caregivers use when socializing children about race and racism.

Results
Analysis of the literature identified five recurring patterns of White racial socialization that range from race-evasive to explicitly antiracist approaches. These include (1) silence about race, where parents avoid or omit racial discussions; (2) moral individualism, which frames racism as interpersonal prejudice rather than structural inequality; (3) reactive racial socialization, where discussions mainly occur in response to racialized events; (4) egalitarian parenting, emphasizing equality and shared humanity without addressing structural injustice; and (5) antiracist parenting efforts that actively engage with structural racism and racial justice. Across studies, race-evasive strategies were the most frequently documented, while race-conscious approaches appeared less consistently and varied in depth and intentionality.

Conclusions and Implications
Findings emphasize several key directions for social work research and practice. While scholarship has started to document patterns of White racial socialization, little research explores developmental outcomes for White youth related to these practices. The literature also indicates that White parents often use overlapping or context-dependent strategies instead of strictly race-evasive or race-conscious approaches, highlighting the need for more nuanced frameworks. Additionally, research on interventions aimed at helping White parents adopt race-conscious or antiracist parenting remains very limited. These findings underscore the need for expanded intervention research and the development of practical, evidence-informed strategies to support White families in engaging in structural discussions of racism and racial justice. Future studies should focus on examining developmental outcomes, broadening intervention research, and creating practical strategies to assist White families in engaging in structural discussions of racism and racial justice.