Critical Summary of “The ‘Morphing’ Properties of Whiteness” Within the definitions and perceptions of race exists a dichotomy that Duster illuminates as inconsistent, transforming, and historically erratic depictions of what represents the racial categorization of “white”. Vacillating between racial portrayals of “whiteness”, embodying a divergence between the fluidity of historic and social transformation and a disingenuous reflection of bigotry, disrespect, and intolerance, Duster distinguishes race as a compilation of divergent biochemical, neurological, and social identities (Duster n.d.). Cognizant of concessions shown to the “white” race, Duster denotes an inevitability to refute the moral reality of “white’ exclusivity, and attempts to illuminate the vacillating conceptual perspectives on the “elementary truths” about race (Duster nd). Duster alludes to the necessity of utilizing a balanced methodological approach towards a true understanding of the origins of racial stratification in America. Utilizing the analogy of water evolving through progressive stages of fluidity, he denotes that race and the conceptual context of “whiteness” can reflect both the flow and ebb of the progression through water, vapor, and solids, but can also transform through concurrent stages of social change. It is the evaluation of vacillating perspectives and timely progression that provides a balanced understanding of race. Recitations of historic attempts initiated to biologically define differences in race and ethnicity culminated in the “Revised UNESCO Statement on Race” in 1995. The realization that ethnicity and race represent a culmination in more areas of commonality than in areas of differences, manifesting in th... ... middle of paper ... ...y existing within race, and relates his personal experiences with the morphing actions of his oppressors lays what I considered to be an important void, that being an explanation of what empowered Duster to represent his race in al almost impermeable “white” environment, particularly during the time prior to the civil rights movement. Duster’s except expounded on his prioritized points of historical and social understanding which resulted in an excellent representational expose of focused empirical truths presented with a lack of resonant racial overtones. Reference Duster, Troy (nd). Excerpt from “The ‘Morphing’ Properties of Whiteness”. John Brueggemann (Ed.). Inequalities in the United States; A Reader Ist ed., pp.125-138). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Hurst, Charles, E. 2013. Social Inequalities: Forms, Causes, and Consequences (8th ed). Boston, MA: Pearson.
First, I will examine Omi and Winant’s approach. They made a clear distinction between ethnicity and race and only discussed how races are formed. They also define race as a constantly being transformed by political struggle and it is a concept which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by
Ruth Frankenberg’s essay “Mirage Of An Unmarked Whiteness” begins as “ . . .an examination of how, when, and why whiteness has disappeared from the racial radar screen, with whites exempt (from the views of some people) from the definition as a racial category” (86). Frankenberg dissects the generalized assumptions of whiteness and its relationship with race by analyzing the malleable structures of whiteness and racialization throughout history.Frankenberg compares the power whiteness and race through historical contexts. The claim that whiteness is invisible is false. Rather, whiteness is a changing idea that is applied to specific colonial projects to the oppressor’s advantage. Race and whiteness were both created by the historical contexts
McWhorter’s article revolves around a Dream; a more specified version of a dream than Dr. King’s Dream that inspired the Civil Rights Revolution in the 1960’s. After stating that “white America will somehow wake up and understand that racism makes black America’s problems insurmountable,” and how it qualifies as more of a fantasy than a dream; he refers
Beginning from when the narrator was a little boy, being perceived as white by his classmates, while he was neither black nor white but a combination of both. As a result of the narrator being raised on the perception of being a ”white” male, that life style was all he knew. The narrator uses the “privilege of whiteness”, which is taking full advantage of the opportunities that is presented before you due to your race. “Privilege of whiteness” gave the narrator a since of ease, knowing by passing as a “white” was his chance to live the American dream.
From an early age it was clear to Sandy that, the lighter a person’s skin was, the higher their social status. As the only young child in his household, he was exposed to many conversations among the adults around him that revolved around race. A primary example of this was one of the conversations between his grandmother, Aunt Hager, and her friend, Sister Whiteside. Sandy and the two elder women sat at the kitchen table together to share a meal while the two women chatted. Sandy sat quietly and absorbed their talk of everything from assuming the white ancestry of a lighter-skinned child they knew, to the difficulty of keeping “colored chillens in school” (13-15).
Prior to beginning my readings on white racial identity, I did not pay much attention to my white race. If someone had asked me to describe my appearance I would have said short blond hair, blue eyes, average stature, etc. One of the last things I would have noted was the color of my skin. Growing up in overwhelmingly white communities, I never thought to use the color of my skin to differentiate myself from others. Over the course of this dialogue I have learned that my white racial identity is one of the most defining aspects of my appearance in this society. There is a certain level of privilege that I am afforded based solely on the color of my skin. According to Peggy McIntosh, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks” (71). All these objects listed by McIntosh are things I have access to and certainly take for granted. Due to a history of non-white racial oppression, which transformed into decades of racial discrimination that still lingers today, the white race has dominated our society in terms of resources and prosperity. The ideas of wealth, higher-level education and ambition to succeed are all traits commonly linked to people of the white race that collectively define privilege. The aspect of privilege can also produce disadvantages for people of the white race as well. In the book Promoting Diversity and Justice, the author D. Goodman notes that people of advantage groups develop a sense of superiority, which will sometimes lead them to wonder if, “their achievements were based on privilege or merit” (107). Along with a diminished sense of accomplishment, the cost ...
Schaefer, R. T. (2012). Racial and ethnic inequality. Sociology: a brief introduction (13th ed., pp.
In the past, races were identified by the imposition of discrete boundaries upon continuous and often discordant biological variation. The concept of race is therefore a historical construct and not one that provides either valid classification or an explanatory process. Popular everyday awareness of race is transmitted from generation to generation through cultural learning. Attributing race to an individual or a population amounts to applying a social and cultural label that lacks scientific consensus and supporting data. While anthropologists continue to study how and why humans vary biologically, it is apparent that human populations differ from one another much less than do populations in other species because we use our cultural, rather than our physical differences to aid us in adapting to various environments.
"Social Forces." The Skin Color Paradox and the American Racial Order. Oxfordjournals,org, 2007. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
Race-thinking: what is it? Isn’t the world past the issue of race? Do races even exist and if so, what does it mean to have a racial identity? Is colorblindness possible and how important is it? These are the questions Paul Taylor addresses in the book “Race: A Philosophical Introduction”. Paul Taylor is a self-proclaimed “radical constructionist” who will maintain that race is very real in our world and in the United States as a whole (p. 80). Taylor takes care to ensure he addresses the real needs concerning racial dynamics in the U.S., referencing historical events, prevailing policy affairs, and even pop culture to explain that everyone capable of forming opinions ought to have some sort of grasp of the concept of race-thinking. As Taylor will analyze, race and race-thinking “has shaped and continues to shape private interactions as well as the largest political choices” (p. 8). In other words, race-thinking encompasses everything we do and every interaction we have. In this paper I will attempt to interpret and expound Taylor’s views and definitions of race, concepts associated with race, and input my own interpretations as they are appropriate.
In White, Richard Dyer discusses whiteness and the imagery it plays that unfairly privileges and paves a path of success for its European possessors, while blinding them to this fact in order to avoid feelings of guilt, because “other people are raced, we are just people.” While recognizing his own privileges as a white man in society and the normalcy his successes are characterized as, he only begins to become conscious to this as he became aware to the oppressions he faces as a gay man. He recognizes his hesitance towards centralizing around whiteness with this book, as society already does, but does so to “dislodge it from centrality and authority.” Dyer also struggles with choosing terminology to reference these discussed whites and feels
Whiteness is a term that has been discussed throughout history and through scholarly authors. Whiteness is defined in many ways, according to Kress “pervasive non- presence, its invisibility. Whiteness seems at times to be everywhere and nowhere, even present throughout U.S history, and yest having no definable history of its own. Whiteness as a historically rooted cultural practice is then enacted on the unconscious level. Knowledge the is created from the vantage point of Whiteness thus transforms into “common sense,” while practices or behaviors that are enacted based on the unspoken norms of Whiteness become the only acceptable way of being” (Kress, 2008, pg 43). This definition for example, whiteness has become into hegemony. I define it as racial ideologies that have been established throughout history. Which has formed racial segregation between white and non-whites, and has led to discrimination and injustice. White privilege has also been a factor in whiteness; it’s the privilege that white color people get better benefits
“Black, white and brown are merely skin colors. But we attach to them meanings and assumptions, even laws that create enduring social inequality.”(Adelman and Smith 2003). When I first heard this quote in this film, I was not surprised about it. Each human is unique compared to the other; however, we are group together based on uncontrollable physical characteristics. Eyes, hair texture, and skin tone became a way to separate who belongs where. Each group was labeled as having the same traits. African Americans were physically superior, Asians were the more intellectual race, and Indians were the advanced farmers. Certain races became superior to the next and society shaped their hierarchy on what genes you inherited.
In today’s society, it is acknowledgeable to assert that the concepts of race and ethnicity have changed enormously across different countries, cultures, eras, and customs. Even more, they have become less connected and tied with ancestral and familial ties but rather more concerned with superficial physical characteristics. Moreover, a great deal can be discussed the relationship between ethnicity and race. Both race and ethnicity are useful and counterproductive in their ways. To begin, the concept of race is, and its ideas are vital to society because it allows those contemporary nationalist movements which include, racist actions; to become more familiar to members of society. Secondly, it has helped to shape and redefine the meaning of
Although the concept is off-limits and offensive in culture today, he defends this significant part of American history throughout his book. The impression given to us of the White Negro by Mailer can help us look at it as a form of blackface that has found its was in American society. Although artists like Al Bernard and Bert Williams were performers of physical blackface on stage in the 20th century, the hipster has shown to become a form of non-physical blackface. A type of blackface that isn’t ridiculed or criticized by society, but accepted or sometimes even ignored as a grand section of American Popular