“What Group?” Studying Whites and Whiteness in the Era of “Color-Blindness”
Abstract
In this article I argue that despite the claims of some, all whites in racialized societies “have race.” But because of the current context of race in our society, I argue that scholars of “whiteness” face several difficult theoretical and methodological challenges. First is the problem of how to avoid essentializing race when talking about whites as a social collective. That is, scholars must contend with the challenge of how to write about what is shared by those racialized as white without implying that their experiences of racialization all will be the same. Second, within the current context of color-blind racial discourse, researchers must confront the reality that some whites claim not to experience their whiteness at all. Third, studies of whiteness must not be conducted in a vacuum: racial discourse or “culture” cannot be separated from material realities. Only by attending to and by recognizing these challenges will empirical research on whiteness be able to push the boundaries of our understandings about the role of whites as racial actors and thereby also contribute to our understanding of how race works more generally.
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Race as a set of identities, discursive practices, cultural forms, and ideological manifestations would not exist without racism.
“Amanda Lewis (2004: 625) contends that ' race as a set of identities, discursive practices, cultural forms, and ideological manifestations would not exist without racism.'”
From A Critical and Comprehensive Sociological Theory of Race and Racism (2016) · cites this paper as Lewis 2004
Racial ideologies provide ways of understanding the world that make sense of racial gaps in earnings, wealth, and health such that whites do not see any connection between their gain and others' loss.
“Lewis explains: 'For an ideology to gain hegemony, … it must successfully naturalize the status quo. … Racial ideologies in particular provide ways of understanding the world that make sense of racial gaps in earnings, wealth, and health such that whites do not see any connection between their gain and others' loss' (Lewis 2004: 632-3).”
From A Critical and Comprehensive Sociological Theory of Race and Racism (2016) · cites this paper as Lewis 2004
For an ideology to gain hegemony, it must successfully naturalize the status quo.
“Lewis explains: 'For an ideology to gain hegemony, … it must successfully naturalize the status quo. … Racial ideologies in particular provide ways of understanding the world that make sense of racial gaps in earnings, wealth, and health such that whites do not see any connection between their gain and others' loss' (Lewis 2004: 632-3).”
From A Critical and Comprehensive Sociological Theory of Race and Racism (2016) · cites this paper as Lewis 2004
Cites
Selections from the prison notebooks
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White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness
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White Supremacy and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era
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White On Arrival: Italians, Race, Color, and Power in Chicago, 1890–1945
Guglielmo, T. A. (2003) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195155433.001.0001 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
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A Critical and Comprehensive Sociological Theory of Race and Racism
Golash-Boza, T. (2016) · Sociology of Race and Ethnicity · doi:10.1177/2332649216632242 · Cited by 321 · see citing works
What Makes Systemic Racism<i>Systemic</i>?
Bonilla‐Silva, E. (2021) · Sociological Inquiry · doi:10.1111/soin.12420 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Ray, R., & Rosow, J. A. (2012) · Journal of Contemporary Ethnography · doi:10.1177/0891241611431700 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
- Authors
- Lewis, A. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Chicago (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lewis, Amanda E.
- ORCID
- Lewis, Amanda E.
- Venue
- Sociological Theory
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2004-12
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 623-646
- ISSN
- 0735-2751 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9558
- OpenAlex
- W2151662273
- Cited by
- 643
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 50 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 47 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 70 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 41 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 29 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 27
- FWCI
- 34.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Sociological Theory (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Race Theory in Education
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Race, History, and American Society
- Keywords
- whiteness, colorblind racism, race, racialization, essentialism, white identity, racial discourse
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