ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes the model for locating racist name-calling incidents in relation to two axes. One represents the user's beliefs and attitudes to 'race', ranging from racist to anti-racist. The other represents the user's interactional repertoire, and ranges from racist to non-racist. Each incident of choosing to use racist name-calling or of choosing not to use it, needs to be concretely analysed to determine the specific combination of the two dimensions of behaviour, thematic and interactional, which it represents. Most of the white children agreed that some white children had racist beliefs. One of the most common explanations that children gave for racist name-calling was that it was motivated by the desire to 'act tough'. 'Acting tough' was part of the interactional repertoire for establishing a particular type of male identity through the assertion of dominance. The assertion by black children of their ethnic identity produced both positive and negative responses on the part of white children.
