Academics label niceness as a component of White privilege in new study

Academics from four universities have published a study titled ‘Niceness as Whiteness in School Police Officers’ Perceptions of Student Arrest,’ which characterizes niceness as a strategy for advancing White privilege.

The research, involving Abigail Beneke, Benjamin Fisher, F. Chris Curran, and Samantha Viano, suggests that niceness allows predominantly White individuals to maintain a sense of benevolence while eliding how their actions contribute to inequality. The authors argue that niceness can act as a mechanism for upholding systems of Whiteness and may even hinder ‘authentic care’ for students.

George Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley criticized the study, describing it as an ‘ideological screed posing as academic research.’ Turley argued that the researchers interpreted the empathetic and reluctant arrest behaviors of school resource officers as evidence of oppressive structures rather than individual character.