Movements organized around racial goals are likely to become increasingly prevalent as the demographic changes occurring in the US continue. The white population is becoming a smaller part of the overall American population, with Latinos/as in particular making up a larger proportion. By the mid-century, whites are predicted to represent a minority of the country’s population. Much of this growth in the non-white population is fueled by immigration, although a not inconsiderable amount is also generated by a rapidly increasing multiracial population. Depending on the extent to which multiracial individuals and members of some immigrant groups racially identify as white in the future, the white population might not be declining that much, after all (Alba 2016). Just as the boundaries of whiteness expanded in the early twentieth century to include Jews, Italians and other European immigrants who were considered not quite white, so too might groups currently considered non-white be regarded as white in the near future. Alternatively, however, Fox and Guglielmo (2012) argue that European immigrants were never actually outside the white racial boundary; their experience, therefore, has little to tell us about the future white racialization of other groups.
In general, the story of whiteness is both one of structures of oppression that extend back to the founding of America and one of a rapidly changing set of complex identities, which lead simultaneously to conflict and cooperation in contemporary life. In order to understand the ways in which these rigid structures and complicated perceptions permeate American life, we must examine some of the many meanings of what it is to be white—including the racial privilege inherent to them all.
The rest of the book discusses the various manifestations and implications of whiteness in America. Chapter 2 presents the concept of “invisible privilege.” As mentioned earlier, many whites are unaware of how they benefit from their whiteness. How does this happen? The chapter describes the origins of beliefs about race and racial identity among whites by reviewing some of the ways in which white children learn about race. While most children are not directly instructed about the meaning of whiteness, they absorb many messages from their parents and from their school environments. They carry these messages into adulthood, where they apply the lessons to their own understandings of American society as basically “colorblind,” a place where race holds little relevance. Colorblindness often masquerades as a seemingly desirable belief about every individual being like every other individual, but this universalist belief actually hides a dismissal of the importance of racism in the lives of non-whites. If we are all the same and we all have equal chances to get ahead, then non-whites can be assumed to deserve having lower incomes and a lower educational attainment. “Not seeing color” can mean not seeing inequality. Finally, Chapter 2 reviews the concept of “hegemonic whiteness.” The theory behind this concept points out the ways in which whiteness is interwoven throughout American society such that it is not noticed. Furthermore, the use of whiteness to negatively influence the lives of most Americans—including many whites—is often accepted as a part of “normal” society.
While invisible whiteness is an important and perhaps dominant form of whiteness, Chapter 3 discusses the ways in which whiteness can be visible. In certain places and situations, whites are quite aware of their racial identity. One example of visible whiteness is that of stigmatized whites. These are individuals who have one or more characteristics that reflect a relative lack of power or standing. For example, the case of poor whites discussed earlier involves people who are both privileged through their whiteness and disadvantaged through their class status. Since one stereotype of whites is that they are affluent and successful, the racial status of poor whites tends to get highlighted: such people tend to be seen as not living up to their racial standing. They may be thought to have done something to deserve their poverty, since discrimination would not be to blame. It is not only to stigmatized whites that race is salient, however. Sometimes whites assert their racial privilege in a way that makes their identity salient to themselves and others. Whites who organize in order to keep non-whites out of the neighborhoods they live in are consciously exercising their racial privilege rather than living their lives in an entirely colorblind fashion. Finally, some whites actually try to abandon their white identity, claiming to have an entirely different racial background. The widespread adoption of DNA testing has increased the number of whites who, in the light of new information, think of themselves as belonging to other racial groups. Other whites are sharply aware of their white privilege and attempt to change its meaning. In all the cases discussed in Chapter 3, white racial identity is salient, not hidden.
Chapter 4 presents some of the ways in which whiteness influences attitudes on a range of topics. It also discusses the influence of culture on experiences with and the diffusion of whiteness. Patterned beliefs and practices not only are a result of white identity; they also shape it. Several different theories of white racial attitudes engage with the ways in which whiteness symbolizes a sense of cultural superiority, as well as with the role played by the degree of possessiveness expressed by whites in the face of perceived political and economic threats. White attitudes are not limited to whites’ thinking about race, however. Whites are also unique in their support for the harsh treatment of those arrested and incarcerated—attitudes that a number of scholars have demonstrated are racialized. The cultural practices of whites diverge in some cases from the practices of other groups. While this occurs in a variety of dimensions, one example that will be discussed is that of country music.
Chapter 5 discusses the ways in which white identity and privilege are mobilized. Often, when Americans think about the ways in which white people join social movements to further the interests of their race, they think about white supremacist movements. The Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and other supremacist groups are indeed important organizations to understand. However, there are other ways in which whiteness is connected to whites’ involvement in social movements. Some organizations, such as the Tea Party movement, comprise a large majority of white members. More importantly, however, their goals would secure white privilege. Such goals include policies about taxation and social welfare programs that would disproportionately harm non-whites and, relatedly, benefit whites. Movements in which whiteness is an organizing principle need not be politically conservative, however. Organizations that are predicated upon anti-racism and upon attempts to subvert white privilege are also examples of whiteness mobilized.
Finally, Chapter 6 discusses the future of white racial identity. The demographic shifts that occur in America are likely to have profound implications on racial attitudes and identities. Whites (as currently defined) are soon to become a minority of the United States population; they are already a minority among the young population up to the age of 15 (Frey 2019). What will happen to whiteness when whites are no longer in the majority? Perhaps nothing—or perhaps there will be a strong shift in whites’ attitudes and behaviors if they perceive their privileged position in society to be threatened. One form this may take would be for whites to draw even stronger boundaries around whiteness than the ones that currently exist. Such attempts could mirror and replicate, for instance, the behavior of native-born whites in America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, when waves of European immigrants from places such as Ireland and Italy were not considered fully “white.” Alternatively, whites may erect weaker boundaries around their whiteness. In an attempt to maintain majority status, they may consider relabeling “white” groups that are currently “honorary whites,” such as some Asians and Latinos/as. Finally, this chapter seeks to address the question: “Is there an ideal form of whiteness?” If a white individual were to care about the privilege and history of oppression that is associated with his or her identity, how might that person go about thinking and acting in ways that consciously challenge white privilege? While the connection between whiteness and privilege is not erasable, appreciating this connection and its many manifestations is a positive alternative to the passive acceptance of white racial dominance.