A Socio-Behavioral Model of Racism Against the Black Community and Avenues for Anti-Racism Research

Sociological researchers have made immense strides in understanding systemic racism, privilege, and bias against Black people. Relational Frame Theory provides a contemporary account of human language and cognition that intersects within complex external contingency systems that may provide a provisionally adequate model of racial bias and racism. We propose a reticulated model that includes nested relational frames and external contingency systems that operate at the level of the individual (implicit), communities (white privilege), and system policies (systemic racism). This approach is organized from within the framework of Critical Race Theory as an area of sociological scholarship that captures racial disadvantages at multiple levels of organization. We extend this model by describing avenues for future research to inform anti-racism strategies to dismantle this complex and pervasive socio-behavioral phenomenon. At all levels, police violence against the Black community is provided as a case example of negative social impact of racism in our society.