Lay-Theories Reflect, Reproduce, Deny, and Acknowledge Racism: Explaining COVID-19 Racial Health Disparities in the United States

Authors

  • Grace N. Rivera
    Psychology Department, University of Mississippi, University, MS, USA
  • Phia S. Salter
    Psychology Department, Davidson College, Davidson, NC, USA
  • Jaren Crist
    Psychological Science Department, Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, MN, USA
  • Michael Perez
    Psychology Department, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, USA
  • Masi Noor
    School of Psychology, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, United Kingdom
  • Rebecca J. Schlegel
    Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
  • Ciara Coger
    Psychology Department, Davidson College, Davidson, NC, USA

Abstract

Lay-theories are sets of interconnected ideas people use to understand and explain their worlds. We used a reflexive thematic analysis to investigate participant-generated lay-beliefs about COVID-19 disparities between White and Black communities (N = 150) and between White and Latinx communities (N = 145) in the United States. We extracted six themes from lay-beliefs about COVID-19 racial health disparities: perceived non-compliance with guidelines, beliefs about biological health, the assumptions about cultural differences, concerns about working conditions, acknowledgement of structural barriers, and naming racism as the problem. Informed by Critical Race Psychology perspectives, we discuss how racism is reflected and reproduced in lay-beliefs about Black and Latinx communities by overlooking evidence-based realities, reproducing negative stereotypes and racist tropes, culturally pathologizing, positioning racial differences as biological, and/or denying the role of racism.