White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness

by Ruth Frankenberg

American Sociological Association’s Jessie Bernard Book Award winner Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights’s Outstanding Book Award winner

Genres: Race, Feminism, Nonfiction, Sociology, Gender, Womens, History

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Tiny Pants]

If you're doing gender studies, skip it. If you're studying race, read it.

It's actually not helpful with the gender stuff at all -- it seems the author just studied women cause she's a firm believer in the 'you can only study your own group' thing. Kaaaay.

That said, she offers a really interesting discussion attempting to formulate what whiteness means, and how the ways whiteness is defined -- mainly through discourse about normalcy, invisibility, and boringness -- enforce white privilege. It's a more nuanced argument than I'm making it sound like, and I would say a worthwhile one for those studying race and ethnicity-related issues to read.

[Jennifer]

This book analyzed interviews with white women on topics of race and racism in the '80's. It was overall a good book, though a little more academic than it needs to be. I would highly recommend reading at least the last two chapters, especially the one called "Thinking Through Race," which makes abundantly clear in a very powerful way (for me, anyway) the point that the way to end racism is through collective action.

[Stef Rozitis]

Frankenberg examines both the way that whiteness functions as an unacknowledged default and how white women try to navigate their own identities as unknowingly, unwillingly or critically reflexively white. She examines the ethnicities and experiences of her participants and the way race becomes invisible when white people want to deny their complicity.

Interesting. I think there are more recent studies on this sort of a thing, but it was worth reading.

[Holly]

Along with Peggy McIntosh's "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack," Frankenberg's analysis was my first introduction to how whiteness, as well as color, was a socially constructed and reinforced category and to where whiteness gave me "invisible" privilege in what I was raised to think was a fair and just society. Under the tutelage of the amazing Michelle Rowley, in deciphering this text, I began to witness white privilege and systemic racism clearly for the first time. The fact that I was able to make it into my 30s before someone could effectively call me on and illustrate to me my privilege is an effect of and evidence of that privilege. Simultaneously, I was hearing from fellow students in my professional degree program about driving while Black or Brown, about skin-color discrimination within Black and Brown communities (a legacy of slavery and racism), and more social, economic, and political realities that plagued my peers and professors. This is an excellent introduction for those who can't see their own privilege and don't understand how they can be both poor *and* privileged (because not all privilege comes in the form of wealth or earnings) in this culture.

[Synthia Salomon, Ed.S.]

“White People are raced, just as men are gendered. And in social context where white People have too often viewed themselves as nonracial or racially neutral, it is crucial to look at the racial ness of the white experience.”

[Dioscita]

There should be a "currently skimming" bookshelf...

[Yasmine]

Loved it, loved how she was practical, moved on from the initial topic to another with no shame to admit it. loved her honesty and enthusiasm on the subject.

[Elizabeth]

White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness (Paperback)
by Ruth Frankenberg

from the library

[Ghm]

a useful discussion of the intersection between race and feminism. and useful thinking for how to talk about whiteness.

[Becca]

Other authors (white women against racisim) Elly Bulkin, Lillian Smith, Sara Evans, Angelina Grimke, Helen Joseph, Melanie Kaye, Tillie Olsen, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Ruth Seid, Mab Segrest