Whiteness: An IntroductionWhat is whiteness? Why is it worth using as a tool in the social sciences? Making sociological sense of the idea of whiteness, this book skilfully argues how this concept can help us understand contemporary societies. If one of sociology's objectives is to make the familiar unfamiliar in order to gain heightened understanding, then whiteness offers a perfect opportunity to do so. Leaning firstly on the North American corpus, this key book critically engages with writings on the formation of white identities in Britain, Ireland and the Americas, using multidisciplinary sources. Empirical work done in the UK, including the author's own, is developed in order to suggest how whiteness functions in Britain. Bringing an emphasis on empirical work to a heavily theorized area, this important text synthesizes and reviews existing work, incorporates multidisciplinary sources of interest to those outside the sociology sphere, and features concise chapters which will engage undergraduates. Garner deftly argues that whiteness is a multifaceted, contingent and fluid identity, and that it must be incorporated into any contemporary understandings of racism as a system of power relationships in both its local and global forms. |
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... contexts. Iattempt here to make some connections enabled by using whiteness as a tool. Chapters 8–9 draw more on empirical fieldworkdoneinthe UK since theearly 1990s andparticularly the beginning of the twentyfirst century. Here I ...
... contexts, but how andwhyis moreinteresting. Soif you come to thistext with the idea that any attempt touse whiteness inother contextsispotentially dangerous, I encourage you to bearwith me. Whatstrikes memost about using whitenessto ...
... context andfluidity. The solidityof specific configurationsand power relationships thus melts intotheair of hybridity, devoidofan understanding about how asymmetricalthe choicesand relationships between them are (Dei 1999,2000). If ...
... contexts wherewhite people wield themost decisionmaking power andhold the highestpaidjobs. One of the many challenges arising fromthis work is to try and pick up the thread and find ways tomake this typeofwork have an impact. Having ...
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