ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes concepts similar to silent racism that are derived from the social psychology literature, namely prejudice and more recent forms of racism that have been identified: symbolic racism and aversive racism. It then turns to the contemporary sociological race theories that were instrumental in the development of silent racism as a concept. This is followed by extracts from the focus groups, specifically, the racist thoughts and feelings voiced by participants. Their accounts provide evidence that the "not racist" category is filled with silent racism. The chapter maintains that the "racist" and "not racist" categories are no longer meaningful and that they hide silent racism and its link to institutional racism. The data presented in the chapter illustrate that silent racism is present in the minds of the well-meaning women. The oppositional categories also harbor symbolic racists and color-blind racists whose arguments against policies that would support racial equality are presented in nonracial language.
