Being White

Karyn McKinney uses written autobiographies solicited from young white people to empirically analyze the contours of the white experience in U.S. society. This text offers a unique view of whiteness based on the rich data provided by whites themselves, writing about what it means to be white. Foreword, Joe Feagin Preface: A White Woman From the South1. I Could Tell My Life Story Without Mentioning My Race: Exploring Everyday Whiteness 2. I Began to See How Important Race Could Be: Turning Points in Whiteness 3. Being Born in the U.S. to White Parents is Almost Boring: Whiteness as a Meaningless Identity4. I Feel 'Whiteness' When I Hear People Blaming Whites: Whiteness as Cultural Stigmatization5. I Was the Loser in this Rat Race: Whiteness as Economic Disadvantage 6. Being White Is Like Being Free: Whiteness and the Potential for AntiracismAppendix A: Sample Validity Appendix B: Sample Differences: North/South or Rural/Urban? Appendix C. Autobiography Guide