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Learning Objectives
By the end of the chapter, the student will be able to do the following:
- Understand the dimensions of white privilege and how it works as an invisible set of resources and opportunities.
- Unpack how white privilege is not equally distributed among those defined as white.
- Predict the three formats that the power dynamics in the United States may take with population change.
- Explain and give examples of how some groups shift in and out of the category of white.
- Express the difficulty of placing some groups into an ethnic or racial category.
- Define the term “White Person of Color.”
- Explain the challenges of establishing one’s identity as a multiracial person.
Chapter Summary
White privilege is the receiving end of opportunities that are not provided to disadvantaged groups. This white privilege is not equally experienced by everyone labeled as white because identities such as gender and socioeconomic class may prevent full participation. Whites include groups that are also seen as ethnic or non-Christian, which may reduce their association as being fully “white.” The racial hierarchy may shift with the increase in black and brown peoples. Scholars disagree on how this will take shape. This becomes even more complex when certain groups are changing in their racial categorization or when they may be both seen as an ethnic and racial group.
Whites do not have to think about their identity each day in the way that other groups do. Whiteness is an identity that requires deconstruction and scrutiny in order to become visible to white people. White privilege consists of the often unnoticed benefits to having a white identity. European immigrants in the early 1900s became white through actions that excluded blacks and by being beneficiaries of government policies that furthered white opportunities. Examining white privilege helps us to see those who benefit from oppression and to see the underlying workings of racism. All whites do not benefit equally from white privilege—class and gender interact to limit or expand privilege. The definition of who is white changes over time because of flexibility in boundary making practiced in everyday life and social policies. “White persons of color” can still face racism through cultural identification. Some groups like Latinos attempt to use their own categorization systems outside of the U.S. classification categories, which challenges status quo assumptions. A new census category may appear on the 2020 Census as “Middle Eastern and North African.” The struggles of some of Middle Eastern and North African descent is that they may or may not want to be classified as white. One reaction to those of a religion that differs from Christianity is to doubt their belonging to the white racial group. This became more prevalent after 9/11. As pointed out by Mirna Zaher, Khalid Jabara, a Lebanese American who, although classified as white, was not treated as white, was shot by his next door neighbor, which is one of many examples of racialization processes. Multiracial identification is complex and based on several factors, such as societal classifications, social networks, social class, and outward appearance.