Identity, Helms's Theory of Racial

Chalmer E. Thompson

Racial identity or identification with one's societally designated racial group occurs in response to environments in which societal resources are differentially allocated on the basis of racial group membership. Usually, allocation of resources implies a hierarchy by which one group is assumed to be entitled to more than its share of resources, whereas other groups are assumed to be entitled to less than their share…. In U.S. society, “Whites” (rather than Caucasians) are members of the entitled group, and it has been these characteristics (e.g., skin color) deemed by them to indicate “Whiteness” that have permitted their members to have access to entitled status…. People of color, that is, Native Americans, Blacks, Asians, and Latinoa/s of color, have tended to be the deprived groups…. (Helms, 1995, p. 184) Helms's racial identity theory consists of three models: the People of Color (POC) Identity Model, the White Identity Model, and the Racial ...

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