Antiracist Education and Moral Behaviour: lessons from the Holocaust

An assumption implicit in antiracist education is that students who learn about racism and who subsequently come to hold antiracist attitudes will tend to act in accordance with those attitudes. The existence of countervailing forces leading such students to active or passive complicity in racism seems never to have been acknowledged in antiracist literature. This lacuna is difficult to fathom in view of the interest shown by psychologists and historians of the Holocaust in bystander behaviour and conformity to the peer group. In order to increase the likelihood of students taking action against racism, it is argued that antiracist educators should heed the lessons of the Holocaust and adopt measures aimed specifically at preventing bystander behaviour and conformity to peer group pressure. This paper discusses the body of research relating to both phenomena and identifies its implications for antiracist education.