ABSTRACT
This chapter reveals that the social consciousness which emerges, is often referred to by critical, social critical, feminist, and post colonial scholars, is similar to the concept of the generalized other in social psychology. The Opening Doors (OD) participants developed two foci of social consciousness: in-group others and out-group others. The majority of OD participants share a perspective of a collective self primarily focused within their individual ethnic groupings. Individuals whose focus is primarily the generalized in-group collectivity do not necessarily exclude the out-group. However, focus on the in-group generalized other suggests a necessary progression in presenting self as subject before being able to present self as subject to the generalized other of the out-group. Social consciousness of the out-group refers to the individual's broadening focus of the generalized other to include rules of interaction within their own ethnic culture as well as rules of others outside their particular ethnicity.
