The psychosocial costs of racism to White staff members of an ethnically diverse, post-92 university

Abstract

Research examining institutional racism in higher education institutions is invariably based on Black, Asian and minority ethnic people’s perspectives, thus overlooking the significance of the experiences and viewpoints of people who are not from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds. To address this gap in the literature, the researchers utilised Kivel’s psychosocial costs of racism to White people framework as a means to investigate and understand the issue of institutionalised racism in an ethnically diverse, post-92 university in the UK. Data were collected from White university employees, via semi-structured individual interviews, and were examined using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings revealed how participants were aware of incidences of institutional racism within their higher education institution and understood the privileges that came with the colour of their skin (that were not afforded to their Black, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues). As a result, they invariably experienced significant psychosocial costs, including anxiety, anger, embarrassment and fear. This is the first study to examine the problem of institutional racism as viewed through the lens of White university employees. The findings of the study present an opportunity for strategic development linked to the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and Goals 2 and 8 more particularly. Goal 2 focuses on promoting good health and well-being, and Goal 8 on promoting decent work and economic growth.