The following is an extract from our book Seeing White: An Introduction to White Privilege and Race (Halley et al. 2011). The book presents an exploration of the culture of whiteness that dominates social and economic life in the United States. This extract contains a brief introduction to whiteness as a cultural norm and presents the argument that whiteness itself has become a form of economic capital supporting the reproduction of dominance and intergroup inequality. We specifically look at the influence of normative whiteness on hiring decisions and employment structures.
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