Whiteness

Abstract

Throughout U.S. history, whiteness as a marker of racial identity, like masculinity as a gender identity, has often been associated with power, dominance, and the marginalization (and sometimes oppression) of others. Both whiteness and maleness have often derived their cultural force and power from being represented as universal categories, rather than expressly acknowledged as simply signifiers of race or gender. Whiteness and manhood have reinforced one another in U.S. society, usually through attempts by white males in power to deny that nonwhite males are true “men,” and thereby to exclude them from the privileges, rights, and opportunities associated with manhood in American culture.