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White Trash: Race and Class in America
Poor or marginal whites occupy an uncharted space in recent identity studies, particularly because they do not easily fit the model of whiteness-as-power proposed by many multiculturalist or minority discourses. Associated in mainstream culture with "trashy" kitsch or dangerous pathologies rather than with the material realities of economic life, poor whites are treated as degraded caricatures rather than as real people living in conditions of poverty and disempowerment.
White Trash situates the study of poor whites within the context of several academic disciplines, public-policy analysis, and popular or mass-media representations. Arguing that white racism is directed not only against people of color but also against certain groups of whites, the contributors to this volume explore the ways in which race and class in America are often talked about and represented in hidden, coded, or half-realized ways. In so doing, they demonstrate why the term white trash itself embodies yet another way in which some whites generate a debased "other" through pejorative naming practices.
White Trash situates the study of poor whites within the context of several academic disciplines, public-policy analysis, and popular or mass-media representations. Arguing that white racism is directed not only against people of color but also against certain groups of whites, the contributors to this volume explore the ways in which race and class in America are often talked about and represented in hidden, coded, or half-realized ways. In so doing, they demonstrate why the term white trash itself embodies yet another way in which some whites generate a debased "other" through pejorative naming practices.
284 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 24, 2025
This anthology comprises one excellent essay, two or three pretty good ones, and, for the balance, a handful of truly dreadful academic turds wherein tin-eared pedants propose to "interrogate" something or other.* Here is a representative sentence, from the unintentionally (I believe) funny "Can Whiteness Speak?":
"Insofar as whiteness sustains itself as an adequator beyond adequation, that is to say, something that speaks to avoid the eventual bespeaking of its own undoing (e.g. "I was framed"), it is indeed a very modern thing."
Reading stuff like that makes me feel a lot better about having blown a free ride to English grad school in my twenties.
Standing out from this bunch of losers like a cheerleader at the chess club meeting (the simile is, I guess, retro-sexist gender stereotyping, but it feels so right for a book all about status and signifiers) is Constance Penley's "Crackers and Whackers: The White Trashing of Porn." Well-written, funny, generous, and critically astute, it was a joy to read. The history article by Timothy Lockley, "Partners in Crime," is workmanlike in the best sense of the word. It presents a fresh perspective on antebellum black/white relations based on solid evidence and well-reasoned argument. Apparently, the study of history has not undergone the utter debasement of thought and language that seems to have characterized graduate work in English literature for the past twenty years or so. I really am astonished by the legions of people, these days, who devote their professional lives to the study of a language for which they have no discernable respect or affection. Allan Berube's reminiscence about growing up in a New Jersey trailer park is honest and evocative, and the Laura Kipnis interview with performance artist Jennifer Reeder, while largely a rehash of ideas about 'disorderly bodies' as instruments of protest that Kipnis has presented more cogently elsewhere, has all of her customary dash.
The good stuff is good, but I should've stopped there.
*Whenever I read that verb used in that way, I can't help picturing some skinny doctoral fellow in sandals and a Dostoyevsky beard feebly wielding a truncheon in a windowless room.
"Insofar as whiteness sustains itself as an adequator beyond adequation, that is to say, something that speaks to avoid the eventual bespeaking of its own undoing (e.g. "I was framed"), it is indeed a very modern thing."
Reading stuff like that makes me feel a lot better about having blown a free ride to English grad school in my twenties.
Standing out from this bunch of losers like a cheerleader at the chess club meeting (the simile is, I guess, retro-sexist gender stereotyping, but it feels so right for a book all about status and signifiers) is Constance Penley's "Crackers and Whackers: The White Trashing of Porn." Well-written, funny, generous, and critically astute, it was a joy to read. The history article by Timothy Lockley, "Partners in Crime," is workmanlike in the best sense of the word. It presents a fresh perspective on antebellum black/white relations based on solid evidence and well-reasoned argument. Apparently, the study of history has not undergone the utter debasement of thought and language that seems to have characterized graduate work in English literature for the past twenty years or so. I really am astonished by the legions of people, these days, who devote their professional lives to the study of a language for which they have no discernable respect or affection. Allan Berube's reminiscence about growing up in a New Jersey trailer park is honest and evocative, and the Laura Kipnis interview with performance artist Jennifer Reeder, while largely a rehash of ideas about 'disorderly bodies' as instruments of protest that Kipnis has presented more cogently elsewhere, has all of her customary dash.
The good stuff is good, but I should've stopped there.
*Whenever I read that verb used in that way, I can't help picturing some skinny doctoral fellow in sandals and a Dostoyevsky beard feebly wielding a truncheon in a windowless room.
May 28, 2014
"White Trash: Race and Class in America," edited by Annalee Newitz, is a mixed bag of essays about people classed as "white trash" and what that term means in regards to, as stated in the title, both race and class.
One of the strongest essays is by a white gay man who grew up in a trailer park, and discussed the intersections of class and sexuality, and discussed the different ranks of class within the trailer park. It was marvelously written, very interesting, and left me curious to read more. Another discusses religion and end-times narratives, utterly fascinating and eye opening. There's also a look at historic poor white/Black relationships in the South and how poor whites and slaves and freedmen formed partnerships; a look at how the upper class worked hard to drive wedges between poor whites and Blacks.
One of the weakest essays, on the other hand, is by a middle class white woman who is a performing artist and has a persona modeled on the worst, more virulent, most hateful stereotypes of white trash women-- they're inbred, they do drugs, they're stupid, they're promiscuous, they're literally toxic, etc. She doubles down on defending this noxious, insulting persona by insulting a male professor of hers who grew up poor and white, completely overlooking the fact that her performance/persona directly insults and degrades every single one of his female relatives and loved ones. In other words, he has every reason to object to this dirty co-option of his culture and lived experienced, and the lived experience of the women he knows.
I would like to read more essays in a similar vein, looking critically at the interplay of race and class in the USA, especially people who are "white trash" and also are queer/trans etc. There were a handful of really bigoted essays in this, however, presented without commentary. Are we meant to read them and judge them negatively? Are they meant to be an example of Harmful Opinions? Or are they endorsed by the editor? I'm not sure, but they were jarring.
One of the strongest essays is by a white gay man who grew up in a trailer park, and discussed the intersections of class and sexuality, and discussed the different ranks of class within the trailer park. It was marvelously written, very interesting, and left me curious to read more. Another discusses religion and end-times narratives, utterly fascinating and eye opening. There's also a look at historic poor white/Black relationships in the South and how poor whites and slaves and freedmen formed partnerships; a look at how the upper class worked hard to drive wedges between poor whites and Blacks.
One of the weakest essays, on the other hand, is by a middle class white woman who is a performing artist and has a persona modeled on the worst, more virulent, most hateful stereotypes of white trash women-- they're inbred, they do drugs, they're stupid, they're promiscuous, they're literally toxic, etc. She doubles down on defending this noxious, insulting persona by insulting a male professor of hers who grew up poor and white, completely overlooking the fact that her performance/persona directly insults and degrades every single one of his female relatives and loved ones. In other words, he has every reason to object to this dirty co-option of his culture and lived experienced, and the lived experience of the women he knows.
I would like to read more essays in a similar vein, looking critically at the interplay of race and class in the USA, especially people who are "white trash" and also are queer/trans etc. There were a handful of really bigoted essays in this, however, presented without commentary. Are we meant to read them and judge them negatively? Are they meant to be an example of Harmful Opinions? Or are they endorsed by the editor? I'm not sure, but they were jarring.
October 8, 2007
this book gives voice to what we inherently know about the social implications of the white class construct. it celebrates, critiques, questions, examines. makes me think about britney spears and just how classed the critiques of her parenting (aka apple juice and fast food) those critiques are.
December 12, 2007
that "white trash" is the only racist slur that's commonly accepted in the US today
May 20, 2008
Just as informative and enjoyable (if not more) then "Pretend We're Dead", Newitz really knows how to wax poetic about marginalized white people. My "la-ti-dah" Manhattanite friend who watches "My Big Redneck Wedding" and "Trick My Truck" would be enlightened by reading this book.
September 1, 2019
More like a trailer court
This is an eclectic anthology of various experiences involving poverty.
When I was young, we were the poor, and then there were other variations and now the variations seem to have multiplied.
The Gary, Indiana nightmare, for example, wiped out the steel mills and adequately paying jobs due to the One World Economy. Most whites fled in search of jobs and most of the balance fled as the neighborhoods “changed,” causing the middle-class minorities to flee also. Now, the lower middle class neighborhoods are toxic.
“The whole country looks more like a trailer park every day.” (P. 38.). This chapter attributes the sitution to a worsened economy, temporary jobs, unstable neighborhoods, etc.
The chapter on Detroit testifies the residents’ conception of the difference between people and trash.
The Matt Wray chapter on White Trash Religions was fascinating, pushing The End even more so than do more “middle class” protestant sects. The creepy control religion holds on their lives was both insightful and frightening.
If you are old enough and not privileged with a highly paid job placing you in communities such as Hamilton County, Indiana, you may have seen the evidence of white trashing.
When I moved to the small town of Peru, Indiana, it was a bustling, if not booming, community. Young middle class residents were moving in weekly. Small homes were being renovated and flipped. This was before the folks at the Rotary millionaire’s table decided a one world economy would cause their factories to work twenty-four hours a day to sell product to China. (I am not making this up.) Now their factories are empty and the county economic development authority advertises Miami County as a land of low wages while complaining there are not enough educated/skilled employees.
The jobs dried up. This is hardly an isolated example.
Now, forty years later, the brightest young people move somewhere else with greater opportunities. Roofs are not being repaired. Many houses appear to be abandoned. Others are in various states of deterioration. Some are being torn down with federal money. Paying full time jobs are few and far between.
This, with the exception of a mysterious endowed upper middle class and beyond enclaves, appears to be the economic norm throughout the state, perhaps even the entire U.S.
As are most nonfiction authors, there is more description than positive solutions to improve the situation.
The book was published in 1997 and the authors had not seen anything yet.
November 20, 2016
A thorough social history of class in America, starting with the European settlers up to the present day. The title is misleading as it's not just about white people. And it isn't so much about what life was like for poor people, it's about attitudes of the middle class and upper class toward working class and poor people. You will not like the book if you don't like history and are content with the simple American history 'stories' learned in the elementary school years. Given the 2016 election results it is very timely and sheds some light on the "whys" and "how did this happen."
December 29, 2016
This book is written by people who have never lived outside a suburb. I couldn't make it past the first condescending chapter.
October 10, 2019
There were 5 star essays here, and there were 0 star essays. On the whole, the book was just too esoteric and academic for me. Go figure.
The book got off to a good start, but in the end it took me a month and a half to read its 266 pages because I bogged down so bad on some of the more verbose essays. The biggest takeaway for me from reading this work was in realizing that so many of today's hot topics regarding race - chiefly, white privilege - are not recent developments. This book was published in 1997 but sounded like it was responding to today's media coverage of white privilege, the concept of "otherness," and similar concepts of multiculturalism.
Here is my per-essay rating/assessment:
Intro: 2 - too academic, wordy. I'm not impressed by the vocabulary of the sociologist.
1. 4 - insightful and interesting
2. 4 - good points about "otherness" and white flight
3. 4 - interesting race relations info; may be all conjecture though
4. 5 - a story worth telling, and well-told. Well written.
5. 3 - I liked the parallel between marginalization/minimalization of whiteness and smut, separately but similarly
6. 3 - weird, but a few good points and phrases
7. 0 - bogged down here. Unreadable, really.
8. 0 - WTF?? Utterly unreadable. See pages 158-159 for a good example of this.
9. 5 - Still so true today (regarding economics by race vs. by income level)
10. 5 - well-written, coherent, pertinent
11. 1 - Terrible. Extremely difficult to get through. But 2-3 very good points.
12. 2 - had potential but too esoteric for its own good
13. 5 - Excellent essay. Probably the best essay in the whole book and the only one I would recommend to others or want to return to read.
The book got off to a good start, but in the end it took me a month and a half to read its 266 pages because I bogged down so bad on some of the more verbose essays. The biggest takeaway for me from reading this work was in realizing that so many of today's hot topics regarding race - chiefly, white privilege - are not recent developments. This book was published in 1997 but sounded like it was responding to today's media coverage of white privilege, the concept of "otherness," and similar concepts of multiculturalism.
Here is my per-essay rating/assessment:
Intro: 2 - too academic, wordy. I'm not impressed by the vocabulary of the sociologist.
1. 4 - insightful and interesting
2. 4 - good points about "otherness" and white flight
3. 4 - interesting race relations info; may be all conjecture though
4. 5 - a story worth telling, and well-told. Well written.
5. 3 - I liked the parallel between marginalization/minimalization of whiteness and smut, separately but similarly
6. 3 - weird, but a few good points and phrases
7. 0 - bogged down here. Unreadable, really.
8. 0 - WTF?? Utterly unreadable. See pages 158-159 for a good example of this.
9. 5 - Still so true today (regarding economics by race vs. by income level)
10. 5 - well-written, coherent, pertinent
11. 1 - Terrible. Extremely difficult to get through. But 2-3 very good points.
12. 2 - had potential but too esoteric for its own good
13. 5 - Excellent essay. Probably the best essay in the whole book and the only one I would recommend to others or want to return to read.
January 25, 2018
Enlightening, and ultimately depressing, history and background of the foundations of class and society 's haves and have nots from the earliest days of the founding of the US. From the slaves and indentured servants from early colonial days to the English aristocracy's belief that the vast spaces in North America would be the appropriate dumping ground for England's poor and criminals, who would also provide an expendable resource to clear and settle the wilderness.
September 24, 2017
Interesting read.
May 10, 2021
Addresses the complexity of race, class, and current social implications. Good non-fiction, a few minor issues.
Want to read
July 10, 2014An interesting collection of essays about the cultural construct of "white trash" and the disdain that society holds for people placed in that category, largely stemming from the fact that "white trash" defies concepts of racial norms and boundaries by overriding them with the realities of class and economic struggle in the U.S. which begs the question, what is ultimately more pertinent? Race or class?
There were several points made throughout the book that I found to be particularly interesting and important: the fact that the white middle class has long been the societal norm on which all other groups deviate to varying degrees, the result of which means that the white middle class is never given a hard look; the idea of victimizing and romanticizing marginalization to the point where, once out of its reality, people try to out do each other with their tales of struggle to attain recognition as "the most" of a particular "deviant" category while, at the same time, those currently still in that reality compete for recognition as "the least" and thereby closest to the unspoken norm, the use of the label "trash" as way of knocking down anything that creates discomfort by challenging or defying the status quo ("Crackers and Whackers")
I particularly enjoyed Bérubé's well-written "Sunset Trailer Park," Dunbar's "Bloody Footprints" and the light she shines on the problem of the reality of the American Dream,
There were several points made throughout the book that I found to be particularly interesting and important: the fact that the white middle class has long been the societal norm on which all other groups deviate to varying degrees, the result of which means that the white middle class is never given a hard look; the idea of victimizing and romanticizing marginalization to the point where, once out of its reality, people try to out do each other with their tales of struggle to attain recognition as "the most" of a particular "deviant" category while, at the same time, those currently still in that reality compete for recognition as "the least" and thereby closest to the unspoken norm, the use of the label "trash" as way of knocking down anything that creates discomfort by challenging or defying the status quo ("Crackers and Whackers")
I particularly enjoyed Bérubé's well-written "Sunset Trailer Park," Dunbar's "Bloody Footprints" and the light she shines on the problem of the reality of the American Dream,
October 22, 2012
Sometimes I think books like this take a relatively simple subject and set about making it as complicated as possible. This collection of essays on White Trash is no different does exactly that in a lot of ways but, still, it's pretty fun reading if you genuinely enjoy the White Trash culture.
The essays cover everything from White Trash economics to how it has influenced the world of mainstream pornography. Some of the essays are pretty dense and read like the university level term papers they are. Others have a lot more humanity and definitely redeem the collection overall.
Probably the most high brow book I've ever read about low brow people.
The essays cover everything from White Trash economics to how it has influenced the world of mainstream pornography. Some of the essays are pretty dense and read like the university level term papers they are. Others have a lot more humanity and definitely redeem the collection overall.
Probably the most high brow book I've ever read about low brow people.
June 30, 2012
I wanted to love this book, because my obsessions are class and race. There are great bits here, and if you're interested in the subject, it's worth reading, but most of the writers seem like academics who are more interested in racial theory than class reality. If the subject interests you--and it should--read Jim Goad's Redneck Manifesto too.
December 4, 2012
since this is a collection of essays, some are good some are bad.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews