A Christian ethics of empathy for communities of faith in the midst of racial conflicts: Violence, racism, and narcissism in the Los Angeles riots of 1992

This dissertation is an interdisciplinary study that engages a Christian social ethical analysis of the L.A. riots in 1992. In analyzing one of the most violent riots in U.S. society among racial minorities, the lack of response of the Los Angeles Police Department, and the sensationalism of mainstream mass media were political catalysts in fueling the 1992 riots. To protect against the potential reoccurrence of such tragedies employing empathy, as a method to understand the inner structures of her racial/ethnic groups so that each group can mutually work against institutional racism, I attempt to develop an ethics of empathy.;Instead of understanding the L.A. riots as bi-racial conflicts between African Americans and Korean Americans, I argue that the riots reflect multi-racial conflicts with multiple causes emphasizing institutional racism. In order to analyze the conflicts and to develop creative alternatives, I employ interdisciplinary studies mostly relying on Middleman Minority theory and the ideas of Mary Douglas in sociology, Heinz Kohut's thoughts of narcissism in the Psychology of the Self, and Reinhold Niebuhr's theology of the universality of sin in Christian social ethics. Niebuhr's universality of sin can be an analytical tool to expose institutional racism and the sin of the white privileged who hid behind the established process of bureaucratic institutions, while Kohut's understandings of narcissism is an effective source for constructing creative alternatives that apply the ideas of empathy and selfobjects to the racial groups and members of institutions with the undeveloped narcissism such as a lack of empathy.;Critically utilizing Niebuhr's justice and the balance of power with psychological perspectives, an ethics of empathy including empathic justice and empathic harmony of power are suggested creative alternatives for social transformations. Also, my understandings of the reconciling privilege of the victims hopefully can empower the victims of the L.A. riots as the subjective agents to participate in the transformation of socio-political institutions for justice and peace in solidarity with other racial/ethnic groups. I believe that a possibility of social transformation will increase, when racial/ethnic churches make Jesus Christ as healthy selfobjects toward empathic justice for living and growing together.