Whitenes,

Privilege
White Privilege
and White Fragility
“Whiteness”…?

Racism is not only understood by looking at minority groups.

Understanding whiteness as a construct is of paramount

importance to understand the distribution of power and
privilege.

“Whiteness scholars define racism as encompassing economic,

political, social, and cultural structures, actions, and beliefs that
systematize and perpetuate an unequal distribution of
privileges, resources and power between white people and
people of color (Hilliard, 1992). This unequal distribution
benefits whites and disadvantages people of color overall and
as a group.” (DiAngelo 56)
 “Whiteness”

“Whiteness … refers to the specific dimensions

of racism that serve to elevate white people
over people of color..“
(DiAngelo 56)

“Frankenberg (1993) defines Whiteness as

multi-dimensional: Whiteness is a location of
structural advantage, of race privilege. Second,
it is a ‘standpoint,’ a place from which White
people look at ourselves, at others, and at
society. Third, ‘Whiteness’ refers to a set of
cultural practices that are usually unmarked
and unnamed (1).” (DiAngelo 56)
“Critical Whiteness Studies”
“Understanding Whiteness” (Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre):

• Whiteness is multidimensional, complex, systemic and

systematic:
• It is socially and politically constructed, and therefore a learned
behavior.
• It does not just refer to skin colour but its ideology is based on
beliefs, values behaviors, habits and attitudes, which result in the
unequal distribution of power and privilege based on skin colour.
• It represents a position of power where the power holder
defines the categories, which means that the power holder
decides who is white and who is not .
• It is relational. "White" only exists in relation/opposition to other
categories/locations in the racial hierarchy produced by
whiteness. In defining "others," whiteness defines itself.
• It is fluid - who is considered white changes over
time. (i.e. Irish, Italian, Spanish, Greek and southern
European peoples have at times been "raced" as non-
white).
• It is a state of unconsciousness: whiteness is often
invisible to white people, and this perpetuates a lack
of knowledge or understanding of difference which is
a root cause of oppression.
• It shapes how white people view themselves and
others, and places white people in a place of
structural advantage where white cultural norms and
practices go unnamed and unquestioned.
 A special right, advantage
granted to a particular
person or a a social group

Privileged groups become

PRIVILE the model for normal
GE human relations

invisible
(Bob PEASE. Undoing Privilege. Zed Books, 2007.)
Like racism, also privilege has different
forms…
• Personal Practice
• What you can/are allowed to do (or not do)

• Structural Privilege:
• Public policies
• Institutional practices
• Cultural representations
• Textbooks
How many types of privilege can we think of?

Peggy McIntosh: “I think whites

are carefully taught not to
recognize white privilege, as
males are taught not to
recognize male privilege. So I
have begun in an untutored way
to ask what it is like to have
white privilege” (1)
(“White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible
Knapsack”)
I can turn on the television or open to the front page
of the paper and see people of my race widely
represented.

When I am told about our national heritage or about

“civilization,” I am shown that people of my color
made it what it is.

I can be sure that my children will be given curricular

materials that testify to the existence of their race.

I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to “the person

in charge,” I will be facing a person of my race.
Kids as young as 5 show racial bias, research suggests
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/racial-bias-children-1.4422812
“White Fragility”
Robin DiAngelo
International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, Vol 3, No 3
(2011), 54-70

Abstract
“White people in North America live in a social
environment that protects and insulates them from
race-based stress. This insulated environment of
racial protection builds white expectations for racial
comfort while at the same time lowering the ability
to tolerate racial stress, leading to what I refer to as
White Fragility. White Fragility is a state in which
even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes
intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves.
These moves include the outward display of
emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and
behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and
leaving the stress-inducing situation. These
behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial
equilibrium. This paper explicates the dynamics of
White Fragility”.
D’Angio (Excerpts from Reader)
• Whiteness as a position of status
• White Supremacy
• The white racial frame
• White Fragility
• White fragility as a form of bullying
• White Fragility in action
• White Fragility and the rules of engagement
• Where do we go from here?
(DiAngelo) Racial stress results from an interruption to what is racially familiar. These
interruptions can take a variety of forms and come from a range of sources, including:

1. Suggesting that a white person’s viewpoint comes from a racialized

frame of reference (challenge to objectivity);
2. People of color talking directly about their racial perspectives (challenge
to white racial codes);
3. People of color choosing not to protect the racial feelings of white people
in regard to race (challenge to white racial expectations and need/entitlement
to racial comfort);
4. People of color not being willing to tell their stories or answer questions
about their racial experiences (challenge to colonialist relations);
5. A fellow white not providing agreement with one’s interpretations (challenge
to white solidarity);
6. Receiving feedback that one’s behavior had a racist impact (challenge to
white liberalism);
7. Suggesting that group membership is significant (challenge to individualism);
8. An acknowledgment that access is unequal between racial groups (challenge
to meritocracy);
9. Being presented with a person of color in a position of leadership (challenge
to white authority);
10. Being presented with information about other racial groups through, for
example, movies in which people of color drive the action but are not in
stereotypical roles, or multicultural education (challenge to white centrality).
 Which are the factors that inculcate White Fragility in the
white population?

1. Segregation
2. Belief in Universalism & Individualism
3. Entitlement to racial comfort
4. Racial arrogance
5. Racial belonging
6. Constant messages that we (note subject position) are more valuable –through
representation in everything