Sociological Perspectives on Whiteness

Pavel Shlossberg

This course examines the social construction of race through an exploration of white identity, both theoretically and empirically. Topics include the historical genesis of white identity; its intersection with political movements and organizations; the relation of whiteness to race, ethnicity, class, gender and nation; representations of whiteness in popular culture; the sociological mechanisms by which it is reproduced, negotiated, and contested.

Required Books

1. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States 2. Paula S. Rothenberg, White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism

Schedule

Topic 1: Introduction

Topic 2: Whiteness: the Power of Normative Invisibility

Paula S. Rothenberg, “Introduction,” part 1, White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism

Topic 3: Whiteness as Structural Privilege

Paula S. Rothenberg, “Introduction,” part 2.4, White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism

Tim Wise, chapters 1-2, Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White

Topic 4: Race: The Floating Signifier

Stuart Hall, “Race, the Floating Signifier”

Topic 5: Whiteness, Racial Formation, and the Politics of Privilege

Michael Omi and Howard Winant, “Racial Formation,” and “Race and Reaction,” Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s

Topic 6: Denial, “Reverse Racism,” and Other Ideologies of Whiteness

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, chapters 2-4, Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States

Topic 7: Whiteness, Race, and the Media

Robert Entman and David Rojecki, chapters 4-7, Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America

Sut Jhally and Justin M. Lewis, chapters 1, 5-6, 8, Enlightened Racism: The Cosby Show, Audiences, and the Myth of the American Dream

Topic 8: Whiteness as Cultural Capital

Steve Garner, chapter 3, Whiteness: an Introduction

Dalton Conley, selections, Honky

Topic 9: White Privilege and Class Inequality: How (Some) Whites Lose Too …

Martin Gilens, selections, Why Americans Hate Welfare: Race, Media, and the Politics of Antipoverty Policy

Topic 10: The Historical Contingency of Whiteness

Matthew Frye Jacobson, chapter 2, Whiteness of a Different Color

Topic 11: Whiteness and the Power of Resistance

Paula S. Rothenberg, “Introduction,” part 4, White Privilege: Essential Readings on the other Side of Racism