The uses of whiteness: what sociologists working on Europe can draw from US research on whiteness

Abstract

Whiteness studies are trans-disciplinary, but here the focus is principally on sociology and social history. Firstly, I identify, elucidate and synthesize the major ways in which whiteness in this literature has hitherto been problematized, to provide a sociological view of the multidisciplinary work so far. Five interpretations are identified; whiteness as absence, as content, as a set of norms, as resources and as a contingent hierarchy. Secondly, I make some proposals regarding the whiteness problematic’s degree of pertinence to European settings, with a brief discussion of the Irish case. Finally, I argue that whiteness is useful if conceptualized in a way that sets it within the parameters of studies of racism.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038506062032
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)
Uncontrolled Keywords: identities,racism,whiteness,racialisation
Publication ISSN: 1469-8684
Last Modified: 27 Mar 2024 08:08
Date Deposited: 24 Feb 2010 11:16
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.uk.s ... evel2=&level3=& (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2006-04
Authors: Garner, Steve J.

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