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ASIFA MAJID was at a roundtable discussion on the role of psychologists and the Society in tackling racism.
DSESPITE the fact that psychologists have been active researchers in racism since the 1920s, there was not a single psychologist involved in the MacPherson Report on the murder of Stephen Lawrence. This roundtable discussion aimed to address this silence by looking at what psychological research can contribute to our understanding of racism; how (if at all) that research can be applied; and whether the charge of `institutional racism' can be levelled at The British Psychological Society.
With regard to research on racism, Margaret Wetherell (Open University) and Steve Reicher (University of St Andrews) both advocated a shift in research strategy. They argued that instead of treating racism as the result of something within the individual, we have to look at the wider context. People are part of a culture, which is social, situated and dynamic. Therefore, research should move beyond the individual in a vacuum and treat the individual as being embedded in practices, routines and...