Discourses on racism in families with school-aged children in Catalonia

ABSTRACT Unfortunately, racism is a kind of violence present in current societies that embodies an attitude opposed to the culture of peace. In this scenario, the family has a relevant role to contribute to the development of values related to human rights. With the aim of identifying patterns and challenges to progress from a polarized debate to an empathetic and non-violent dialogue, the discourse between parents and children between 3 and 16 years of age is reviewed. For this purpose, a questionnaire was designed and 1,701 families in Catalonia (Autonomous Community of Spain) answered it. The results show that racism represents 9.7% of the controversial topics of conversation at home; the principal values and attitudes that guide the family discourse are: respect (23.1%), fighting injustice (18.7%), and equality (12.4%); families who claim to have suffered racism reach 6%; women and individuals with a low level of education are those who most believe that the economy would improve if immigrants went back to their countries; and those who sent their children to a charter school prefer them to relate with people of the same culture. Considering this evidence, guidelines are formulated to encourage reflection and anti-xenophobic dialogue at home.