Critical Consciousness Development: Defining the Role of Privilege and Allyship

Objectives: Critical Consciousness (CC) development is the process of recognizing and acting against social, political, and economic oppression. It was developed to address inequity and for the benefit of oppressed individuals or groups. This study explores how CC, allyship, and privilege awareness are related among immigrant-origin (I-O) youth in American society, who face repressive sociopolitical conditions (e.g., exclusionary immigration policies). Methods: The current study built on prior work by conducting secondary qualitative analysis of a subsample n = 24 ethnically/racially diverse I-O youth (44% Asian, 32% Black, 16% Latinx, and 8% Mixed race; 82.6% female, 8.7% male, and 8.7% gender diverse; Mage=16.86, SD=0.92) from The 2020 Study (IRB #XXX) through which semi-structured interview were conducted over Zoom to examine I-O youth’s sociopolitical development amidst the pandemic and movements against systemic racism during the 2020 election season. Results: We found that youth critically reflected by addressing oppression and power when speaking about privilege. There were consistent themes of internal privilege (privilege related to one’s identity) and external privilege (privilege as a function in society). Youth’s rationalization for engaging as an ally was shaped by their intersecting identities, with their ethnic-racial identity being the most salient. Conclusion: This work furthers the scholarly understanding of the facets of critical consciousness related to privilege, allyship, and ethnic-racial identity. Our results illustrate a reciprocal relationship among these facets, positioned within the PVEST framework as stable coping responses and reactive coping methods.