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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... of white identities may suspend other social divisions andlink people whoshare whitenesstodominant social locations, even though the actors are themselvesin positions ofrelativepowerlessness. That argumentispresented inthree sections of ...
... a white academicor student readingDuBois, Baldwin,Wells, hooks, Hughes,Ellison,etc.,youare forced to identifyyourself within their narratives. Even though youmight place yourself ethically on the side of the oppressed in this process ...
... white people (Hartigan2005: 1).'Whiteness', he argues, 'assertstheobvious andoverlooked fact that whites are racially interested and motivated. Whiteness both names and critiques hegemonic beliefs and practices that designate white ...
... white people ismeasuredas distance from selected white norms of a given society.Thosenorms are usually classbased, gender biased andageist, theymayor may notbesecular orChristian to varyingdegrees, butthekey point isthatthese norms ...
... of white social identities. There are a number of positions onthis question,ranging from the 'race traitors', who ... of white people,through the disproportionate control ofresourcesby tiny minorities. Howevermuch you can disaggregate ...