INTRODUCTION

This chapter examines the current state of research on race and self-esteem. In tracing the development of this line of work, we discuss the ways in which this literature speaks to self-esteem theory, as expounded by Rosenberg and his colleagues (1965, 1972, 1973, 1979, 1985, 1986). Although many scholars have provided a fertile foundation for further research on this topic, there has been little care taken to address some of the fundamental assumptions underlying this research tradition. There has been even less appreciation for related areas of work that speak directly to the issue of self-esteem development among ethnic minorities. Embracing a more social definition of the self would help bring the research on race and self-esteem in line with the broader theory of the self-concept. We conclude by discussing the implications of the disproportionate theoretical and empirical work devoted to black–white differences in self-esteem.

The literature on minority self-esteem is much too extensive to attempt to summarize in this chapter (see Cross, 1981; Imani, 1996; Porter & Washington, 1979,1989,1993; Smith, 1979; Wylie, 1974, 1978, 1979 for reviews). Various empirical and theoretical pieces are selected to represent and/or shed light on some of the issues that will be discussed. As such, this chapter is organized around two broad themes: (1) black self-esteem and (2) cross-ethnic research on personal self-esteem.