Empirical research into white racialized identities in Britain

Abstract

The intellectual project of using whiteness as an explicit tool of analysis is not one that has taken root in Britain. However, there are a number of empirical studies that investigate the racialization of white identities. In this article, I look at some empirical sociological fieldwork carried out on white identities in Britain since the early 1990s and identify the key themes arising. These themes are (in)visibility, norms and values, cultural capital and integration, contingent hierarchies and Empire in the present. In Britain, a pertinent distinction is between rural and urban settings for the enactment of white identities vis-a`-vis those of minorities, and there is an exploration of some of the contingency that draws the boundary between ‘white’ and ‘Other’ in different places. Areas of commonality and distinctiveness are noted in terms of the American work. In the last section, I argue that there are a number of issues to resolve around continuing such studies, including linking the micro-level to the macro-level analysis, and expanding to international comparative work.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2009.00229.x
Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities > Sociology and Policy
College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities
College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities > Centre for Critical Inquiry into Society and Culture (CCISC)
Additional Information: This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Garner, S. (2009). Empirical research into white racialized identities in Britain. Sociology compass, 3(5), 789-802 which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2009.00229.x/abstract
Uncontrolled Keywords: whiteness,empirical,racism,Britishness,race,class,Britain,USA
Publication ISSN: 1751-9020
Last Modified: 26 Dec 2023 08:14
Date Deposited: 03 Sep 2012 09:27
Full Text Link: http://onlineli ... 0229.x/abstract
Related URLs:
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2009-09
Published Online Date: 2009-07-14
Authors: Garner, Steven

Download

[img]

Version: Draft Version


Export / Share Citation


Statistics

Additional statistics for this record