Whither the White Working Class? A Comment on Khanna and Harris,“Discovering Race in a ‘Post-Racial’ World: Teaching Race through Primetime Television”
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online July, 2015
Whither the White Working Class? A Comment on Khanna and Harris,“Discovering Race in a ‘Post-Racial’ World: Teaching Race through Primetime Television”
Even though I recognize the value of using the mass media to teach sociological concepts and reveal racial biases, I caution against the use of classroom exercises that are developed solely in the context of whiteness studies. Overarching statements of white privilege mask complex race-class interactions generally and the mass media’s stereotypical depictions of the white working class specifically. In this “conversation,” I explain why the use of the concept white privilege in and of itself obfuscates more than it reveals complex race-class interactions today.
AndersenMargaret L. 2001. “Restructuring for Whom? Race, Class, Gender, and the Ideology of Invisibility.” Sociological Forum16(2):101–201.
2.
AndersonElijah. 2002. The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
3.
KhannaNikkiHarrisCherise A. 2015. “Discussing Race in a ‘Post-Racial’ World: Teaching Race through Primetime Television.” Teaching Sociology43(1):39–45.
4.
McIntoshPeggy. 1990. “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” Independent School49(2):31–35.
5.
NiemonenJack. 2007. “Antiracist Education in Theory and Practice: A Critical Assessment.” The American Sociologist38(2):159–77.
6.
OlsonJoel. 2002. “Whiteness and the Participation-Inclusion Dilemma.” Political Theory30(3):384–409.
7.
SchickCarol. 2000. “‘By Virtue of Being White’: Resistance in Anti-racist Pedagogy.” Race Ethnicity and Education3(1):83–101.
