Race preferences in children: insights from South Africa

Minority-race children in North America and Europe often show less own-race favoritism than children of the majority (White) race, but the reasons for this asymmetry are unresolved. The present research tested South African children in order to probe the influences of group size, familiarity, and social status on childrens race-based social preferences. We assessed South African childrens preferences for members of their countrys majority race (Blacks) compared to members of other groups, including Whites, who ruled South Africa until 1994 and who remain high in status. Black children (313 years) tested in a Black township preferred people of their own gender but not race. Moreover, Black, White, and multiracial children (49 years) tested in a racially diverse primary school showed in-group bias by gender but not by race: all favored people who were White. Relative familiarity and numerical majority/minority status therefore do not fully account for childrens racial attitudes, which vary with the relative social status of different racial groups.