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. |
From inside the book
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... identifying as white in particularsocial and political contextsremains open and rewarding.Thinking ofyourself as'white', asthewhiteness problematic forcesyou todo, means youaretryingto understand how you as an individual are ensnared ...
... identification. Here 'race' as a socialidentity becomes sodeessentialised thattheapproach underminesits relevance byoveremphasising context andfluidity. The solidityof specific configurationsand power relationships thus melts intotheair ...
... identified in fieldwork and public discourse sincethe1980s(Hewitt 2005) is that thebalanceof justice has tipped away from the indigenous white population towards minorities. It is not clear from statistical analysesofpoverty ...
... identified both by early and contemporary writers. One could emerge from aninitial readingofthe material convincedthat thewhiteness studies paradigm isso specificto America's largely bipolarracial arena that it issimply anexotic outpost ...
... identification of behaviours with oppression. While much of thisis understandably focused on slavery, rape, and murder, thereis more toit. Thereisan explicit linking of capitalism withthespecifics ofwhiteness: indeed theexchange of ...