The Dutch, White, Middle-Class Family Reforged: A Journey of Confrontation, Introspection, and Reimagination

Much has been written about institutional racism and looking into the perspectives of people of color and other minorities for insights on tackling social systems that fuel white supremacy and perpetuate racial disparities. However, this study focuses on a more unusual target demographic: the Dutch, White, middle-class family. The aim of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the ways Dutch, White, middle-class, families can function as public spheres in their role as knowledge mediators concerning institutional racism. The participants in this study were eight families, each consisting of at least one parent and teenager, which fit the target demographic and were sampled through family/friend connections followed by a snowball sampling. The data collection process consisted of holding 30-45+ minute conversations with each family over Zoom, in which a variety of topics related to racism were discussed. In terms of the overarching results, it seemed as though most families either remained rigid on their viewpoints or attempted to engage with the foreign knowledge, yet only resulting in more uncertainty. It was only a couple of families that felt a push to spread the knowledge concerning institutional racism to their other social circles, which may result in these families actually bringing forth meaningful change to their society.