Cognitive Dissonance and the Maintenance of a Positive Self‐Concept among Interracially Partnered Whites

Abstract

This article analyzes the narratives of 40 partners in white/non‐white interracial relationships about their experiences navigating race across racially homogenous spaces. Both partners of color and white partners constructed rural areas, the South, and suburbs as racially hostile areas they avoided when possible. When discussing the white settings couples frequented socially, however, the narratives of partners of color and white partners diverged. Whereas partners of color characterized these settings as marked by more subtle racism, white partners characterized them as progressive and non‐racist. However, white partners unwittingly contradicted this as they recounted recurrent instances of interpersonal racism. Cognitive dissonance theory posits when individuals' beliefs and/or behaviors are threatening to their self‐concept, they will engage in activities to maintain a positive conception of themselves. Using cognitive dissonance theory as a guiding framework, this article suggests the inconsistencies in whites' narratives reflect a cognitive dissonance in which white partners' self‐concept as progressive and non‐racist is threatened by their association with whites who engage in racist rhetoric. Consequently, white partners dismiss, rationalize, and/or minimize the racism they encounter in order to maintain a positive conception of other whites, and thereby themselves.