When Americans think about race, “white” is often the furthest thing from their minds. Yet whiteness colors so much of social life in the United States, from the organization and maintenance of social structures to an individual’s sense of self. <br /> <br /> White has long been the invisible default category against which other racial and ethnic groups are silently compared and marked out as “different.” At the same time, whiteness is itself an active marker that many bitterly fight to keep distinctive, and the shifting boundaries of whiteness reflect the nation’s history of race relations, right back to the earliest period of European colonization. One thing that has remained consistent is that whiteness is a definitive mark of privilege. Yet, this privilege is differentially experienced across a broad and eclectic spectrum, as is white identity itself. In order to uncover the ways in which its rigid structures and complicated understandings permeate American life, this book examines some of the many varieties of what it means to be white – across geography, class, and social context – and the culture, social movements, and changing demographics of whiteness in America.
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Monica McDermott. Whiteness in America
Contents
Guide
Pages
Whiteness in America
Copyright page
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
2 The Invisible Privilege of Whiteness. Learning about Race
Learning about Race in the Family
Whiteness Invisible
Hegemonic Whiteness
3 Whiteness Visible
Stigma
Defensive
Transcendent
4 Attitudes and Culture
Social Attitudes
Attitudes toward Politics
Attitudes toward Race and Immigration
Whiteness and Culture
5 Whiteness Mobilized
Explicit Use of Whiteness in Social Movements
Implicit Use of Whiteness in Social Movements
Organized Whiteness
6 The Future of White Racial Identity
The Effects of a Shrinking White Population
Stronger Boundaries around Whiteness
Weaker Boundaries around Whiteness
Is There an Ideal Form of Whiteness?
References
Index
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Monica McDermott
Before being able to answer this question, it is important to understand just what the term “white” means. Determining who is considered white—or black, or American Indian, or any other race—may seem obvious. In common conversation, people are said to appear visually as though they belong to a particular race. So, for example, membership in the category “white” is automatic if one has light skin, straight hair, and blue eyes. However, it is not the case that the possession of a given set of physical attributes automatically designates membership of a particular racial group. The meaning of race and any corresponding physical identifiers are deeply embedded in power relations (Omi 2001). This construction of whiteness is a central part of the social construction of race itself. Race is a result of social relations, not simply a reflection of the enduring attributes of any particular group of people. Hence the category “white” changes its meaning and shifts its boundaries in different times and places. Sometimes it goes unnoticed by the majority group, while at other times whites are readily seen, even by themselves.
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Colorblind identities such as those generated by racially homogenous neighborhoods are reflected in whites’ inability to see their own race as an important factor in their lives. Race is instead thought to be a characteristic that non-whites have; whites simply do not think of themselves as having a race at all. One of the reasons why whiteness often goes unremarked is the widely held assumption that “white” is the norm—the default racial category in America. This reality is generated by a long history of white racial dominance, in which whites have controlled institutions, shaped the culture, and enforced their power through a variety of mechanisms. As a result, they have been in a position to defend their rights and power by drawing boundaries around their group, such that white became the norm and all other groups fell outside of the norm. The invisibility of whiteness is such that the privilege it involves is often hidden from view—it seems like the natural order of things. This invisibility of whiteness is especially common among whites in racially homogenous settings: when white is the norm and no stimulus is activating racial identity, one’s own race is seen as a non-factor. Given the high degree of residential and educational segregation in the United States, this experience of whiteness is, indeed, the “norm.”
As discussed earlier, privilege refers to the often unseen benefits of occupying a structurally rewarded position in society such as being white, or male, or heterosexual. The benefits of privilege are many, ranging from a greater likelihood of earning extra income to a greater likelihood of getting away with shoplifting than those without privilege. The very category of “white” is based on the existence of privilege in relation to people of color. The boundaries of whiteness have reflected a history of groups striving for inclusion in the category of “white” and the corresponding high status and resources that being white bestows (Roediger 1991). To be white is to have the opportunity to be included in the civic, political and economic life of the nation. White is the default category against which other racial and ethnic groups are measured. Yet few of those within this category see their racial experience as anything but the norm; it is the others whom they regard as different.
