The Social Construction of Whiteness and Race in America

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The Social Construction of Whiteness and Race in America A comment was made in a blog post early on in the year about whiteness in American that bugged me. It’s a topic that came up a few times throughout the semester in and outside of class. Granted, this topic is based on a single blog post but a collection of comment and statements that were made on specific blogs and during class sessions. This topic I fin extremely important mainly because I felt as though there was some confusion around the topic being white. Understandably if you’re white in America I think it’s easy to forget exactly how privileged you are. Nonetheless, it forced me to want to talk about white privilege in America, explain the meaning of “paradox of privilege”, and explain why it is possible to be privileged without feeling privileged. I also want to drive into where whiteness came from and why it’s still around today. Tim Wise’s (anti American racism activist) use of these words “we” and the implications; how/why he defines certain words for groups that are oppressed. I will incorporate Wise’s discussion on whiteness within the context of Frye’s cage metaphor. Describing why a macroscopic view is so essential to understanding the structure of oppression. The paradox of privilege, one can essentially describe this as a gift being bestowed on someone just for being (or perceived as being) white. Wise explains that if one were to be end to take any perks that make our lives easier for granted to the point that we don’t even know they’re there. Even when a person(s) is completely unaware that he/she is privileged it isn’t keenly felt in the way the areas where we lack privilege are. This usually leads to why it is possible to be privileged without feeling... ... middle of paper ... ...osed), where money saved through discrimination also adds to the profits. Overall I wanted to try and negate some of the rhetoric that seemed to pelage the earlier semester when reading House on Mango Street and woman warrior. The term being white or becoming why I don’t feel was dove into enough, or used informatively from classmate. This wasn’t something that I got the chance to blog about but it was a topic that was brought up a few times throughout some comment on blogs. Work Citied Tim Wise. Page 18 Paragraph 18 White Privilege: Third edition, 2007 Barnett and Roediger. How white people become white. Page 36 Para 4. White Privilege: Third edition, 2007 Barnett and Roediger. How white people become white. Page 36 Para 2. White Privilege: Third edition, 2007 Michael S. Kimmel. Privilege: A reader. Page 29 Michael S. Kimmel. Privilege: A reader. Page 16

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