How Should Educators and Publishers Eliminate Racial Essentialism?

Abstract

Racial essentialism—the belief that socially constructed racial categories reflect “inherent” biological differences—exacerbates learners’ racial prejudice and diminishes their empathy. Essentialism hinders health professions education programs’ capacity to generate a health care work force that motivates ethics and equity in health care and research. This article suggests how health professions educators and institutions should reform pedagogy on race, when clinically relevant, to emphasize racism as the root cause of health inequity. Publishers of research also have key roles in reform and should enforce appropriate and just references to race in journals and health professions education content.