Final answer:
Modern-symbolic prejudice enables individuals to seemingly endorse racial equality while still opposing policies aimed at reducing inequality, due to implicit biases. These biases are influenced by symbolic interaction and systemic structures that perpetuate racial superiority and inferiority. Tackling this prejudice requires systemic change and conscious efforts to recognize and address these ingrained biases. The correct option is b.
Step-by-step explanation:
A key aspect of modern-symbolic prejudice is that it allows people to support intergroup equality in principle while still opposing specific social policies designed to promote that equality.
This type of prejudice is subtle and can often be found in individuals who possess implicit biases — unconscious associations and attitudes towards different racial groups.
While a person may overtly agree with the idea of racial equality, their implicit biases can influence them to oppose affirmative actions such as policies addressing educational or employment opportunities aimed at assisting minority groups.
Symbolic interactionists like Herbert Blumer argue that race and ethnicity are sources of identity and that racism is formed through interactions within the dominant group, which then supports the status quo. Similarly, cultural racism embeds certain assumptions of inferiority within a society's culture.
Systemic racism functions at an organizational level where policies and structures disadvantage racial minority groups, leading to inequitable outcomes.
Confronting modern-symbolic prejudice requires acknowledging these implicit biases and systemic structures that perpetuate inequality, and actively working towards policies and practices that promote true equality.
Critical race theorists assert that structural racism, built into legal, political, and cultural contexts, can only be dismantled through conscious effort to subvert accepted norms that have historically favored the dominant racial group. The correct option is b.