Critical Race Theory and Marginalization

Empirical Studies on Reparations

Garibay, J. C., Mathis, C. L., & West, C. P. (2022). Black student views on higher

education reparations at a university with an enslavement history. Race Ethnicity and Education, 1-22.

In this study, Garibay et al. (2022) used Critical Race Quantitative Inquiry and the Black Radical Imagination to ground the study while examining Black undergraduates’ level of support for various forms of university reparations at a Southern university with an enslavement history. The researchers collected data from 92 Black students, who indicated wide support for reparations. Using this data, the researchers provided inputs into a statistical model that could be used to predict support levels for reparations based on gender, racial ideology, whether or not faculty of color gave support, and the extent to which the university had communicated emotional responsiveness to slave history.

This empirical study is helpful in providing statistical support for how Black students view the matter of reparations. The study showed that overwhelmingly, Black students at a university with a slave history are more likely to be supportive of reparations, possibly because they are more likely to see themselves as victims of discrimination. Racial ideology could play a role, however, in attitudes towards reparations, with those who believe in racial hierarchy or who dislike the idea of reparations being less likely to support them. The implications of these findings are significant. They suggest that any effort to win support for reparations will need to take into account the role that gender and racial ideology play in shaping people\\\\\\\'s views. These findings underscore the need for a more nuanced approach to winning support for this important policy change.

Sablan, J. R. (2019). Can you really measure that? Combining critical race theory and

quantitative methods. American Educational Research Journal, 56(1), 178-203.

The study by Sablan (2019) shows that quantitative design and statistical analysis can be used in studies of critical race theory. The researcher examined “results from an empirical study that used data from a survey of undergraduates and measurement theory to quantify students’ community cultural wealth, a CRT framework that describes the cultural assets of communities of color” (p. 178). The data came from an online survey with 772 participants. The data was analyzed to consider factors of resistant capital, which ended up being identification of oppression in society, and motivation to transform oppressive structures.