Critical White Studies

The centrality of race in social, economic, and political discourse has been devoid of much discussion of White identity or the experience of being a White person. Whites have primarily been the subject of studies examining their prejudices toward a given group as opposed to a more phenomenological account of the experience of being White. However, these works mainly discuss how power is maintained among Whites and the importance of race relations in the current social milieu. In order to understand the White experience as a distinct identity, many scholars, particularly in sociology and cultural studies, have called for an examination of how Whiteness shapes social life. The field is still incipient, but a few clear concepts and themes have emerged in recent years.

It is important to note that theorizing and deconstructing Whiteness has not been completely neglected in critical race theory. Several sociologists note the work of seminal scholars W. E. B. Du Bois, bell hooks, and Molefi Kete Asante, among others, as central to understanding Whiteness as a unique identity and position of social privilege. In other words, these thinkers tried to expose Whiteness as an identity that must be discussed in relation to other racial groups; Whiteness should not be approached as the absence of color but another political category worthy of thorough analysis. In addition, many groups, such as Jewish and Hungarian immigrants, were not considered “White” as a central part of their identity upon arriving in America. For example, Black people were often referred to as Irishmen in American racial slang, while Jews were often discriminated against as non-White or even referred to with racial slurs often directed at African Americans. Thus, the mercurial nature of what and who is considered “White” suggests the conflict and ambiguity surrounding American racial identities. Many European Americans were not initially considered.