Thesis Question: What is Whiteness and How Does it Shape Distinct Aspects in People’s lives such as Marriage, Interactions, Social policies, etc.?
Thesis Statement: Racism and ethnic categories are founded on the theory of Whiteness. The approach has critical social effects on the lives of the communities that do not fall under the realm of Whiteness.
Introduction
The comprehension of the history of ethnicity and race, as well as the measures to combat racial prejudice, require the understanding of the theory of whiteness as the basis of racism and racial categories (Hornung, 2012). Hence, there is the need to identify what is whiteness and the various ways it shapes the lives of racial groups. This essay explores the theory of whiteness and how it is utilized to categorize and interfere with people’s lives.
Substantive Topic 1: The racial income gap
The racial wealth deviation is used as a prominent indicator of inequality in the society. Today, the income of a colored family holds six cents for every dollar that a White household has. The inheritance paths instituted by whiteness influence the capital of the families, individuals, and communities. The racial capital and inheritance pathways created by the theory of whiteness reproduce meanings and conditions that sustain continuous racism such as the income gap highlighted above of the colored and white families (Webb, 2013).
Substantive Topic 2: Intimate Partner Preferences
Individuals have a particular type of person or a set of spouse characteristics of the individual that they would want to share the rest of their lives. Whiteness or white supremacy is a potential culprit of the relationship choices that people make. For instance, when it comes to the decisions that men make concerning the women they would like to date, their choices range depending on the degree of whiteness that the females possess that is considered beautiful. When the men choose women who are lighter compared to the dark-skinned females they engage in the Whiteness or White supremacy logic (McKinney, 2013).
Substantive Topic 3: Social Policies and Change
The dominant culture has a say in the ideologies that the society embodies. Hence, the social policies or changes will tend to favor the requirements of the dominant ethnicity. Whiteness may appear invisible, but it is still a dominant culture. If a person is perceived as white, he occupies a privileged position that gives him an advantage over others. The dominant aspect is particularly evident in European countries or in Africa where the White people are viewed as superior to the Blacks or other races. By doing so, they have a say concerning the development of social policies and changes in a region (De Kock, Van Kerckhove & Vens, 2014).
Conclusion
Whiteness entails the social location of prestige, privilege, and power. The white individuals acquire an invisible set of resources that are unearned in the community. To the Whites, they may not even notice it. But for the minority cultures, it represents the level of inequality in the society as depicted by the three topics above where Whiteness is evident (Goldstein Hode, 2014). Hence, the theory of Whiteness acts as the foundation of racism and racial categories introducing various social implications on the minority groups.
References
De Kock, C., Van Kerckhove, C., & Vens, E. (Eds.). (2014). Social Work in an International Perspective: History, views, diversity and human rights (Vol. 2). Maklu.
Goldstein Hode, M. (2014). Affirming whiteness: a critical discourse analysis of the affirmative action debate in the Fisher case (Doctoral dissertation, [University of Missouri-- Columbia]).
Hornung, R. (2012). Whiteness in Social Work Education Authentic White Allies (Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University).
McKinney, K. D. (2013). Being white: Stories of race and racism. New York: Routledge.
Webb, A. (2013). The service-learning writing classroom: A safe haven for articulating difficult stories about whiteness and race (Doctoral dissertation, University of Texas at El Paso).
