Toward conceptualizing race and racial identity development within an attractor landscape

Abstract

Concepts, theories, and findings of race and racial identity development were reviewed and conceptualized into a single model based on principles of complexity and chaos. This article proposes race can be understood as a complex adaptive system and conceptualized as an attractor landscape. In this model, trajectories represent racial identity development or progression through an attractor landscape comprised of racial categories. Although this works well as a conceptual model, the modeling of racial identity development within an attractor landscape is affected by practical constraints related to data collection and many of the same limitations of existing racial identity development theories. The proposed model also creates additional challenges because of its interdisciplinary nature.