Racialized Physical Space As Cultural Product

DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12340

ARTICLE

Racialized physical space as cultural product

Courtney M. Bonam1 | Valerie J. Taylor2 | Caitlyn Yantis1

1 University of Illinois at Chicago Abstract 2 Spelman College We argue for incorporating physical space into the psychological Correspondence Courtney M. Bonam, Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 W. study of race. Specifically, we review historical and sociological Harrison St, Chicago, IL 60607, USA. work explaining how physical space (e.g., houses, rivers, neighbor- Email: [email protected] hoods, and nations) has been used to construct race and racial hierarchy, leaving physical space structurally racialized. This structural racialization, we propose, has led people to think of physical space in racial terms, creating mental images of race that include physical space characteristics. We explain how these mental images may influence race‐related psychological processes (e.g., person perception and social identity threat). We also detail evidence that these mental images of racialized space shape how people perceive and interact with space, in ways that likely reinforce its structural racialization. We therefore frame physical space as a cultural product, situating it within the mutually constitutive nature of culture and psyche. This expanded approach to studying race can facilitate a fuller understanding of all the ways in which psychological processes contribute to racial inequality.

1 | INTRODUCTION

Motivated by cost savings, a switch in water source from the Detroit River to the Flint River caused lead‐contaminated water to infiltrate Flint, MI residents' homes and bodies (Grinberg, 2016). Particularly troubling features of this public health crisis have been the seeming indifference toward and slow response to Flint's contaminated water, the resulting environmental problems (e.g., polluted water and corroded pipes), and the resulting egregious health problems among residents (e.g., skin rashes, Legionnaires' disease, and lead‐poisoning‐induced cognitive impairment). What initially caused this crisis and violation of the public trust? The Michigan Civil Rights Commission's report, “The Flint Water Crisis: Systemic Racism Through the Lens of Flint” (2017) asserts that systemic racism was a key cause (Feagin, 2006). The report describes two central components of systemic racism in this case—implicit bias (individual‐level) and spatial racism (structural‐level). Specifically, it underscores how implicit racial stereotypes about the area's predominately Black residents likely rendered a “too little, too late” response. It also explains how the history of federal and local government using housing policy to systematically disenfranchise Flint's Black residents played a key role in creating the crisis. Additionally, we propose that individuals' racial stereotypes about the location and physical space itself influ- enced their responses to the Flint water crisis (and other relevant disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina's aftermath in New Orleans and the shooting death of Aiyana Stanley Jones in Detroit). Given its racial demographics, people

Soc Personal Psychol Compass. 2017;e12340. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/spc3 © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1 of 12 https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12340 2 of 12 BONAM ET AL. likely think of Flint as a Black space. Could key decision‐makers'1 generalized mental images of Black physical spaces (e.g., poor, degraded, and failing) have also contributed to this public health crisis, by shaping their thoughts about and treatment of Flint and its residents? Such space‐focused racial bias lies at the intersection of individual‐level and structural‐level systemic racism. Emerging social psychological evidence suggests that the space‐focused racial bias explanation is plausible. We review this evidence by construing physical space as a racially imbued cultural product that both shapes, and is shaped by, individual psyches (Fiske, Kitayama, Markus, & Nisbett, 1998). More specifically, we argue that physical space is an inherent aspect of people's mental imagery about race. We further suggest that racially imbued mental representations of the physical world shape the varied ways in which people experience and perform race (e.g., social perception, social identity threat, and interracial interaction). Finally, the psychological processes involving racialized physical space can help reproduce the very spatial arrangements that initially constituted them. We introduce the concept of racialized physical space first by providing examples of how physical space has been used to construct racial boundaries, reinforce racial hierarchy, and is relevant to a range of present‐day racial disparities. Next, we move from discussing the structural racialization of physical space to highlighting empirical evidence for the psychological link between race and space. We explain how this evidence suggests that racialized space functions as a cultural product, with potential to shape all aspects of the psychological experience of race. In doing so, we also offer ideas for future research in areas that remain unexplored. We end by discussing the social significance of studying racialized physical space, and acknowledge its relationship to the theory of critical race psychology (Salter & Adams, 2013).

2 | THE HISTORICAL AND STRUCTURAL RACIALIZATION OF PHYSICAL SPACE

Contemporary approaches to race in psychology acknowledge its malleable nature, characterizing race as a set of dynamic social processes rather than merely as a static personal attribute. This approach has led to significant advances in our understanding of interracial interaction, racial stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination (for a review, see Markus & Moya, 2010; Richeson & Sommers, 2016). Largely missing from the psychological study of race, however, is physical space. Consistent with recent trends in social psychology to consider physical context (for reviews, see Oishi, 2014; Opotow & Gieseking, 2011), we define physical space broadly, to include the built environment (e.g., structures like schools, houses, neighborhoods, roads, and city infrastructure), the natural environment (e. g., naturally occurring habitats like forests, fields, and rivers), and places (e.g., geographic regions, nations, and states). It is surprising that social psychologists have largely overlooked physical space in the study of race because physical space has been inherent in the social construction of race (Gould, 2006; Lipsitz, 2007; Lipsitz, 2011). Further, prior historical and structural investigations highlight that racialized physical space is an artifact of cultural practices that have constructed race (Lipsitz, 2011; Rothstein, 2017). Thus, racialized physical space is a cultural product. To elaborate, physical space has been a tool for defining racial group boundaries and creating racial hierarchy. For example, from the time race was first conceived of as a way to hierarchically classify people, global geographic region has been used to define racial boundaries (Gould, 2006), as is evident in Carolus Linnaeus' original four racial categories: “europaeus [Europeans], afer [sub‐Saharan Africans], asiaticus [East Asians], and americanus [Amerinidans]” (Graves, 2015, p. 1476). In their books, How Racism Takes Place (2011) and The Color of Law (2017), George Lipsitz and Richard Rothstein, respectively, explain how this intertwining of race and space has occurred more locally, within the United States. Both emphasize that physical space has been an unconstitutional and intentional tool for reinforc- ing and strengthening racial boundaries and racial hierarchy. For example, the New Deal policy required that public housing projects be racially homogenous and that the pre- dominant racial group in the surrounding area determined the race of a project's residents. During this time, the

1Examples of key decision makers in the Flint public health crisis include state‐appointed emergency city managers, city council members, members of the governor's and mayor's offices, and federal judges. BONAM ET AL. 3 of 12

Federal Housing Administration and G.I. Bill provided government‐subsidized home loans but explicitly discriminated against Black Americans. The Federal Housing Administration also subsidized construction of new suburban housing developments, but selling these homes to Black Americans was not permitted. Resultantly, White Americans often opted for suburban developments, with Black Americans often restricted to inner city public housing. Federal policy segregated American cities, engendering the disparate construction of Black and White physical space. (For further discussion, see Lipsitz, 2011; Rothstein, 2017). Additional examples both within and beyond the Black–White dichotomy abound: From cradle to grave, Jim Crow era cultural norms kept racial groups separated in a range of places, including hospitals and cemeteries (Wood- ward, 2002). Immigration policy (e.g., 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and 1924 Immigration Act) has restricted entry into the United Stated on the basis of race (Zolberg, 2006). Further, broken land treaties and forced migration have left American Indians with restricted access to a land mass that, prior to the arrival of Europeans with their emphasis on private property ownership, operated more like communal space (Cronon, 1983). As these examples reveal, race is because policies, practices, laws, and institutions have used physical space to both craft racial group boundaries and reinforce racial privilege and disadvantage. Even after Brown v. Board and desegregation, the Civil Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, and the rise of cultural norms dampening explicit expressions of racial animus, racial residential segregation (Charles, 2003; Logan, 2013) and a host of racial disparities hinging on physical space persist in virtually all life domains (e.g., housing, education, wealth, health, and criminal justice). For example, racial minority (relative to White) Americans have lower access to high‐quality housing and schools (Akom, 2011; Darling‐Hammond, 2004; Massey & Denton, 1993) and have thus accumulated less monetary wealth—which is largely determined by homeownership and residential property values (Oliver & Shapiro, 2006). These groups also experience greater concentrated pollution exposure and resulting negative health outcomes (Bullard, Mohai, Saha, & Wright, 2007; Morello‐Frosch, Zuk, Jerrett, Shamasunder, & Kyle, 2011). Finally, racial minorities experience higher rates of policing and imprisonment, making even jails and prisons racialized spaces (Alexander, 2010; see Plaut, 2010 for a review.) The wide‐ranging nature of these disparities, reflected in spatial arrangements, means that many kinds of spaces are structurally imbued with racial meaning. As prior empirical investigations (e.g., historical and sociological) show, structural racialization of physical space is one “product of our own design” populating the “human artifactual world” (Schweder, 1990, p. 2). With this statement, we situate racialized physical space within the mutually constitutive nature of culture and psyche (Fiske et al., 1998; Plaut, 2010). Specifically, we argue that racialized physical space is a cultural product. Just as, for example, fashion magazine ads are cultural products that both shape and are shaped by thoughts about beauty and gender roles; physical space is a cultural product that both shapes and is shaped by people's thoughts about race and racial hierarchy. Psychology can contribute further insight into how racialized physical space functions as a cultural product by showing that not only is space structurally racialized but also psychologically racialized (c.f. spatial imaginaries, Lipsitz, 2011). That is, psychologists can examine whether or not lay people do indeed imbue racial meaning into physical space and how this awareness of racialized physical space directs other aspects of race as a psychological process. We propose that individuals' mental representations of race and physical space are shaped by the ways in which space has been racialized, both historically and structurally. We therefore suggest that people imbue many different kinds of spaces with racial meaning, and that this psychological racialization of physical space facilities the reproduction of race and racial hierarchy. Thus, we propose that race and physical space are inextricably tied and that physical space is relevant to any study of race. A number of testable insights follow. First, we contend that people's mental representations of race reflect the structural racialization of physical space. We therefore expect people to think of physical space in racial terms, and we argue that racial stereotype content both derives from the structural racialization of physical space and encom- passes physical space characteristics. Second, we argue that such mental representations of racialized physical space shape how individuals and communities experience, perform, and reproduce race and racism. In other words, racialized physical space is a cultural product with potential to influence all aspects of race as psychological 4 of 12 BONAM ET AL. experience. Third, we expect that the psychological racialization of physical space plays a role in reproducing, strengthening, and recreating the structural racialization of physical space. Specifically, we contend that individuals' racial biases (e.g., stereotypes and behaviors) extend to physical space, to shape how people think about, feel about, and treat physical space. We therefore argue that physical space is a target of racial stereotyping and discrimination. Testing these insights will address a gap in the psychological study of race, enabling our field to discuss a broader range of ways in which psychological processes contribute to and can hopefully help ameliorate racial inequality.

3 | SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

An emerging literature in social psychology, and closely related areas, has begun providing empirical evidence for these insights regarding racialized physical space as a cultural product. Aligning with a mutually constitutive account of culture and psyche, we review ongoing work and recent findings suggesting that culture and psyche shape each other, when considering race and physical space. The aspect of culture that we examine is the built and natural environment—the material world surrounding us. The aspect of psyche that we examine is the psychological experience of race, broadly defined (i.e., anything from engaging in racial stereotyping to experiencing social identity threat). We first explain how this aspect of culture shapes this aspect of psyche, in two parts. First, to lay the groundwork for framing physical space as a cultural product that shapes psyche, we detail evidence that lay people imbue physical space with racial meaning. Second, we detail evidence that these racialized mental images of physical space yield downstream consequences shaping other aspects of race as psychological process. Part 3 reviews evidence that psyche in turn shapes culture in the domain of race–space intersections. Specifically, we detail evidence that racial stereotyping reproduces the structural racialization of physical space. We also discuss fruitful directions for future work in each area.

3.1 | Part 1 (culture → psyche): Mental images of racialized physical space

Consistent with an account of racialized physical space as cultural product, a series of initial studies suggest that people do assign racial labels to a wide range of physical spaces (Bonam, 2010; Bonam, Taylor, & Bergsieker, 2017). Spe- cifically, when asked to list physical locales associated with Black Americans, lay people can easily generate examples, such as inner city, basketball court, and vocational school. When asked to list spaces associated with White Americans, people list examples such as suburb, hockey rink, and Ivy League school. These preliminary findings suggest that lay people imbue physical space with racial meaning in almost every life domain and that there are specific racialized space exemplars that individuals represent as prototypical Black space (inner city) and White space (suburb). Other work shows that people hold mental images of Black and White areas in general, by having them generate characteristics of areas with predominantly Black or White populations. Instead of capturing specific exemplar spaces, these studies directly assess group‐level stereotype content focusing on physical space characteristics. Responses indicate that such space‐focused racial stereotypes regarding Black space include impoverished, crime‐ridden, ghetto, rundown, urban, dangerous, dirty, overpopulated, low‐income housing, and failing schools (Bonam, Bergsieker, & Eberhardt, 2016). Preliminary research also examines the class‐laden nature of Black space‐focused stereotypes. When asked to list any social‐class categories that could possibly describe Black space, Whites rarely mentioned “middle‐class,” and their descriptions of prototypical “Black” and “lower‐class” space overlapped extensively (Bonam, Yantis, & Taylor, 2017; Yantis & Bonam, 2017). The prevailing mental image of Black space is poor and degraded. An opposing mental image depicts White space. Specifically, participants' open‐ended responses show that White space‐focused racial stereotypes include wealthy, clean, green space, suburban, well‐maintained, and safe Bonam, Yantis, & Taylor, (2017). As with Black space, additional preliminary findings support the class‐laden nature of White space‐focused stereotypes. When asked to list any social‐class categories that could possibly describe White space, Whites rarely listed lower‐class categories and their prototypical descriptions of “White” and “middle‐class” areas overlapped extensively (Bonam, Yantis, & Taylor, 2017; Yantis & Bonam, 2017). The prevailing mental image of White space is wealthy and well‐maintained. BONAM ET AL. 5 of 12

Emerging research suggests that this racially polarized space‐focused stereotype content generalizes to specific domains. In one study, people generated characteristics of predominantly Black or White schools. Participants stereotyped Black schools as unsafe, rundown, and resource‐lacking; White schools were clean, well‐ordered, and abun- dantly resourced (Bonam, Taylor, Yantis, & Akom, 2017). Additionally, people stereotype historically Black colleges and universities as less prestigious and lower quality than their White counterparts (Boykin, Martin, Arroyo, & Mendoza‐ Denton, 2017). Future work could investigate additional domains, particularly those relevant for pressing racial disparities (e.g., healthcare and criminal justice). Finally, future work could map space‐focused stereotype content for other racial minority groups and examine how space‐focused stereotypes vary by perceiver race (all findings described here are from White American samples). This work provides initial evidence that racialized physical space is a cultural product that does indeed shape how people imagine physical space. But how have people developed these mental images of racialized physical space? Even if distorted, have these images developed through direct observation of one's physical surroundings? Another possibility is that people, for example, infer Black space characteristics based on Black person‐focused racial stereotypes. Future work could examine whether or not individuals' awareness of broader past and/or present structural patterns predicts the space‐focused stereotype content detailed here. Likewise, additional work could test whether or not this awareness interacts with other experiences—such as media exposure—to shape these mental images. These investigations could help clarify currently unanswered questions regarding the extent to which space‐focused stereotypes align with or are overgeneralizations of structural reality. More broadly, future work could also examine how space‐focused stereotypes and exemplars change over time, potentially tracking gentrification and shifting racial demographics.

3.2 | Part 2 (culture → psyche): Racialized physical space shapes race as psychological process

Whereas Part 1 characterizes racially imbued mental images of physical space, Part 2 reviews evidence suggesting that these images shape further downstream psychological experiences as they relate to race.

3.2.1 | Person‐focused racial stereotype content Recent work provides evidence that person‐focused racial stereotypes may derive from race–space associations. In the absence of information about a target's home environment, people tend to assume that White Americans come from resource‐sufficient, stable ecologies and that Black Americans come from resource‐lacking, unpredictable ecologies (Neuberg & Sng, 2013; Williams, Sng, & Neuberg, 2016). The authors argue that perceivers develop person‐focused racial stereotypes in part by thinking of the behaviors that are optimal for these stereotypic home environments. Accordingly, they suggest that Blacks are stereotyped to be more impulsive and opportunistic than Whites, at least in part because these divergent behaviors are adaptive in the ecology that each group is thought to inhabit (Williams et al., 2016). Supporting Williams' and colleagues' claim, differences in how people perceived Black and White targets' behaviors went away when participants were told that these targets came from the same home ecology. The relevant ecological stereotypes here do not completely overlap with the space‐focused stereotype content mapped thus far. Future work could examine whether a broader range of person‐focused stereotypes also derive from other stereotypic physical space characteristics, perhaps via implicit associations between physical space and person traits. Alternatively, perhaps person‐focused stereotype content derives in part from people attributing stereotypic physical space characteristics to personal characteristics of relevant group members (e.g., properties in Black neighborhoods are not well‐maintained because Black people are lazy). If this process does occur, future work could also examine whether educating people about the history of systemic racism involving physical space diminishes these potential attributions. We believe this result is probable, given emerging work suggesting that educating people about 6 of 12 BONAM ET AL. such place‐based critical history boosts acknowledgement of present‐day examples of isolated and systemic racism (Bonam, Nair Das, Coleman, & Salter, 2017).

3.2.2 | Person perception Social psychological findings also suggest that racialized physical space can shift person perception (e.g., stereotype application and racial categorization). For example, viewing Black people in positive (vs. negative) physical contexts that are likely stereotypically Black (e.g., a family barbeque and church) reduces implicit anti‐Black bias (Wittenbrink, Judd, & Park, 2001; c.f. Allen, Sherman, & Klauer, 2010). Context can also reduce the tendency to shoot unarmed Black targets more frequently than unarmed White targets in a computerized first‐person shooter task (Correll, Park, Judd, & Wittenbrink, 2002). Specifically, when using this task, researchers found that presenting Black and White targets in a threatening context (e.g., inner‐city streets, dilapidated buildings and subway with graffiti) increased participants' tendency to “shoot” unarmed White targets (Correll, Wittenbrink, Park, Judd, & Goyle, 2011). Although these researchers characterize the threatening contexts as being non‐racial (p. 188), additional work suggests another interpretation. This work directly measures the strength of one's stereotypic image of Black areas (e.g., dangerous, degraded, and poor). Preliminary findings suggest that the stronger one's Black space‐focused stereotype is, the more likely they are to see both Black and White targets in an inner city (vs. suburban) context as being more prototypically Black. Moderated mediation analyses suggest that this target‐Black association in turn predicts the likelihood of assuming that these targets are engaging in criminal behavior (James, Bonam, & Taylor, 2017). Race‐relevant physical context also likely influences racial categorization. For example, in one study, when people knew that a racially ambiguous target was from a racially mixed social environment, people were more likely to categorize this target as Black than when they were provided with no information about the context (Peery & Bodenhausen, 2008). It is plausible that the “racially‐mixed social environment” made people more likely to assume that the target's physical context was Black, indicating that shifting the race associated with the target's physical space in turn shifts how people racially categorize the target. Although this study did not directly manipulate the race of the targets' physical context, doing so could similarly shift racial categorization patterns. For example, people may be more likely to categorize a racially ambiguous target from a Black (vs. White) neighborhood as Black. In another study, people were more likely to categorize a White face as White when presented in an American scene (e.g., traditionally American restaurant) versus Chinese scene (e.g., traditionally Chinese home), but more likely to categorize an Asian face as Asian when presented in a Chinese versus American scene (Freeman et al., 2015). These patterns slowed, but remained consistent, when face was incongruent with physical context (i.e., Asian face in American context and White face in Chinese context). Race–place associations may impact racial categorization, though future work should measure and manipulate the race with which the same physical space is associated, to test this claim directly.

3.2.3 | Experiencing social identity threat Some work also suggests that racialized physical space may impact how people experience social identity threat—that is, the concern or worry that one may be treated, evaluated, or judged negatively based on social group membership (Murphy & Taylor, 2012). This work suggests that space‐relevant, contextual cues can raise concerns that one will be marginalized and devalued in a given physical context, which could in turn impact one's sense of comfort, belonging, and trust in the setting. Specifically, one series of experiments created a situation where one White American study confederate asked one Asian American person, “where are you from?” This experience of identity denial (i.e., denying one's American identity) led Asian American participants to report a depressed sense of belonging in America and engage in identity assertion by displaying more knowledge of American culture (Cheryan & Monin, 2005). This work addresses national identity, which is relevant here because nation is bound to racialized physical space: Prior work demonstrates that people more strongly associate the United States, both nation and physical space, with Whites versus Asians and Blacks (Devos & Banaji, 2005). Future work could more directly examine whether Asian Americans' responses to national identity denial are strengthened when the White‐American race–space association is salient. BONAM ET AL. 7 of 12

Additional studies could also examine whether these race–space dynamics impact other forms of social identity threat. For example, if people associate Ivy League universities with Whites, do the campus buildings themselves (like checking one's race on a test form) cue negative group stereotypes, ultimately spurring stereotype threat?

3.2.4 | Interracial interactions Future work could also investigate the role of racialized physical space in shaping other aspects of race as relational, psychological process. For example, how might race–space associations impact interracial interactions in a given locale? One study with police officers (Terrill & Reisig, 2003) suggests that police–community interactions may be more strained in spaces that police think of as being dangerous. In this study, police officers were more likely to use force with people (whether Black or White) in dangerous neighborhoods. Could officers' stereotypes of Black areas as dangerous have strengthened their perception of these areas as dangerous, ultimately exacerbating their negative interactions with people in these areas? Do the residents think about these stereotypes as they are interacting with officers, and how does this potential awareness shape the way they respond to officers? Other preliminary work also suggests racialized physical space may strain interracial interactions. Specifically, priming people with racial demographics indicating residential racial segregation (i.e., structurally racialized space) shifts people into thinking of race as a fixed, biological concept (Hetey & Eberhardt, 2013). Other work shows that biological race conceptions can hinder willingness to engage in interracial interaction (Williams & Eberhardt, 2008). Future work could examine how this potentially space‐driven mindset might impact interracial interactions in a range of domains (e.g., friendship potential and teacher–student or co‐worker interactions).

3.3 | Part 3 (psyche → culture): Reproducing racialized physical space

The work reviewed so far outlines the potential for racialized physical space—framed as a cultural product—to shape a host of psychological experiences related to race. Additional work provides evidence that psyche in turn has the potential to shape physical space. This work examines the potential for people's racially imbued mental images of physical space to shape built and natural environments, in ways that reproduce and strengthen the structural racialization of physical space. Going beyond identifying space‐focused racial stereotype content, these studies examine how activating space‐focused racial stereotypes shifts perception of and engagement with physical space (Krysan, Couper, Farley, & Forman, 2009; Krysan, Farley, & Couper, 2008; Maddox, Rapp, Brion, & Taylor, 2008; Sampson & Raudenbush, 2004). For example, a field study shows that as Black and Latino populations increase in actual neighborhoods, so do perceptions of social and physical disorder in those neighborhoods (Sampson & Raudenbush, 2004). This relationship holds when controlling for objectively measured social and physical neighborhood disorder. Further, in a video‐experiment, the manipulated presence of Black (vs. White) people in a neighborhood depressed perceived neighborhood quality (Krysan et al., 2008; 2009). The presence of people from particular racial groups can also impact how people remember objective spatial information (Maddox et al., 2008; Wang, Taylor, Brunye, & Maddox, 2013). Recently published and emerging research extends these findings, demonstrating that neither negative racial attitudes nor stereotypes about the people in these spaces are necessary for these shifts in space perception to occur (Bonam et al., 2016; Bonam, Yantis, & Taylor, 2017). Specifically, preliminary data, from one study using the go‐no‐ go association test, suggest that the mere presence of people from a particular racial group can automatically activate relevant space‐focused racial stereotypes (Bonam, Eberhardt, & Glaser, 2013). In another series of studies, perceivers then apply these stereotypes to their perceptions of singular physical space targets, with potential to reinforce racial disparities in pollution exposure and wealth accumulation. Specifically, serial mediation analyses provide evidence that, even when accounting for negative racial attitudes toward Black people, Whites assume that a neighborhood is lower quality and more industrial when it is Black (vs. White), which dampens one's sense of psychological connection to the neighborhood, ultimately making people (a) less willing to protect the area from an environmental harm (i. e., a potentially polluting chemical plant) and (b) more likely to devalue a house for sale in the neighborhood (Bonam 8 of 12 BONAM ET AL. et al., 2016). Emerging findings further solidify the role of space‐focused stereotyping in shaping these outcomes. Spe- cifically, the stronger one's stereotypic image of Black space, the more likely one is to evaluate a house in a Black neighborhood as being lower quality than the same house in a White neighborhood, even when controlling person‐ focused racial stereotype strength Bonam, Yantis, & Taylor, (2017). Preliminary data suggest that these processes likely persist in the face of boundary conditions. For example, people continue to express less opposition to building a chemical plant in a Black (vs. White) neighborhood that they stereotype as lower quality, even though they are aware that a school with young children—a vulnerable popula- tion—is nearby Bonam, Yantis, Taylor & Akom (2017). Additionally, by manipulating both neighborhood racial demographics and class indicators (e.g., property values and house condition), a series of experiments demonstrate that Whites perceive a house in a Black (vs. White) neighborhood to be lower quality and are consequently less willing to live there, whether the house is lower‐class or middle‐class (Bonam et al., 2016; Bonam, Yantis, & Taylor, 2017; Krysan et al., 2008). These race effects also hold when controlling for a neighborhood's perceived class‐status (Bonam et al., 2016). In sum, the racial group associated with a space is a critical piece of information shaping space‐focused perception, connection, and evaluative judgment. Moreover, race extends beyond human bodies and social identities to mental images of physical structures. The phenomenon of racialized physical space can make physical space a target of racial stereotyping and discrimination, with implications for residential segregation and racial disparities in wealth and pollution exposure. Thus, this work exemplifies how racialized physical spaces continue to be dynamic cultural products, created and reinforced in part by space‐focused stereotypes and their downstream consequences. As our field has tested with other forms of racial bias (Hoffman, Trawalter, Axt, & Oliver, 2016), future work in this vein should examine the reproduction of racialized physical space among relevant experts and key decision makers (e.g., urban planners, city councils). We expect similar patterns among experts, at least in part because space‐focused racial bias, though involving deliberative judgment, is a hidden form of bias in that it is not directed toward people but physical space. The hidden nature of this bias may make it more difficult to acknowledge and may make people less motivated to control it.

4 | THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RACIALIZED PHYSICAL SPACE

Given the recent and emerging findings reviewed here, we believe that the intersecting fields of social and cultural psychology are well‐positioned to continue uncovering the ways in which particular psychologies, practices, and institutions continue to inscribe race into physical spaces, making them representations of racial divides and racial hierarchy. Through the lens of cultural psychology and mutual constitution, these spaces can be characterized as material artifacts of intentional worlds, and we argue that racialized physical space as cultural product in turn shapes how people think about and perform race. Race and space are inextricably intertwined. We have reviewed an emerging race–space literature in psychology, but this area must remain in conversation with other related disciplines (e.g., sociology, cultural geography, public health, law, African American studies, and ethnic studies). These fields have already provided extensive insight into the structural nature of race–space links, and these insights form the basis of our definitive claim that racialized physical space is a cultural product (c.f. Delaney, 2002; Lipsitz, 2011; Powell, 2009; Pulido, 1996). Psychology is poised to continue contributing to this dialogue, to further uncover the ways in which present‐day individual‐level and structural‐level processes work together to continue reproducing racialized physical space, along with race itself. This focus is consistent with a Critical Race Psychology approach (Adams & Salter, 2010; Salter & Adams, 2013), which emphasizes the importance of a structural analysis of race, as well as a full acknowledgment of the history and legacy of how race was, and continues to be, socially constructed. Here, we acknowledge that space is racialized, which fosters an understanding of both race and the psychology of racism as inherently structural, even when exam- ining individual‐level thought processes and social interactions. Additionally, as does Critical Race Psychology, the evidence we review interrogates and problematizes seemingly normal, neutral, and logical thought patterns. Specifically, BONAM ET AL. 9 of 12 our analysis clarifies how, even in the absence of racial animus, racially imbued perceptions and judgments targeting physical spaces can perpetuate racial inequality. This analysis calls for more in‐depth education about systemic racism, including the historical, structural, and psychological racialization of physical space (Adams, Edkins, Lacka, Pickett, & Cheryan, 2008; Bonam, Nair Das, et al., 2017). Understanding this history and the psychological racialization of physical space is imperative for bolstering our understanding of how people and structures create and reproduce race.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to Jennifer Eberhardt for setting us on the path of investigating race and space; Hazel Markus for inspiring us to analyze these ideas through the lens of cultural psychology and mutual constitution; Waren Bonam and his work at the Michigan Civil Rights Department for inspiring us to always consider broader social implications; and Aneeta Rat- tan and Rachelle Gould for their helpful insights into this topic.

ORCID

Courtney M. Bonam http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3698-6460

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Courtney M. Bonam's research focuses on racial stereotyping as it shapes social perceptions and judgments relevant to racial inequalities in health, wealth, and wellbeing. Her work focuses on two understudied targets—physical spaces and multiracial people, to highlight the social construction of race and expand dominant psychological approaches to studying race. She has published in Journal of Social Issues, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psy- chology, and Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Bonam has been awarded grants and fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the University of California Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, and the American Psychological Association. She is an Assistant Professor of African American Studies and Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Bonam earned a BA in Psy- chology from the University of Michigan and a PhD in Psychology from Stanford University.

Valerie Jones Taylor's research examines how stereotyping and prejudice affect the academic performance and interracial interactions of underrepresented groups (i.e., racial/ethnic minorities and women in STEM) and how stereotyping processes affect perceivers' perceptions and treatment of racial minorities and racialized physical spaces. Integrating key theoretical perspectives, such as stereotype and social identity threat, intergroup relations, and sociocultural selves, Taylor's work seeks to understand how and when stereotyping processes are 12 of 12 BONAM ET AL.

advantageous or detrimental to people's cognitive and behavioral outcomes. Taylor has been awarded grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Prior to her current position as Assis- tant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Spelman College, Taylor earned a BA both in Psychology and Ethnic Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in Psychology from Stanford University.

Caitlyn Yantis studies race as it relates to (a) perceiving people and the physical spaces they occupy, (b) White racial identification, and (c) social interactions. Through this research, her goal is clarify how individual‐level racial stereotyping affects space‐relevant racial inequality (e.g., racial disparities in environmental pollution exposure) and how Whites' management of a privileged racial identity influences their policy preferences and interactions with non‐Whites. Yantis earned a BS in psychology from the University of Mary Washington, an MS in psychology from DePaul University, and an MA in psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Psychology Department of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

How to cite this article: Bonam CM, Taylor VJ, Yantis C. Racialized physical space as cultural product. Soc Personal Psychol Compass. 2017;e12340. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12340