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6: Euro Americans and Whiteness

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  • Page ID
    104061

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    • 6.1: History and Demographics
      Euro Americans, or white Americans, emanate from diverse backgrounds and experiences.  In this section, we will focus on English, German, Irish, Italian, and Eastern European immigrants. Emphasis is also placed on significant immigration legislation impacting Euro Americans, the legal definition of whiteness, and current demographics of white Americans.
    • 6.2: Intergroup Relations
      Patterns of intergroup relations are applied to the experiences of Euro Americans. The following intergroup consequences are discussed as relevant to the experiences of white Americans:  assimilation, pluralism, segregation, fusion/amalgamation, internal colonialism, population transfer/expulsion.
    • 6.3: Whiteness- White Privilege, White Supremacy, and White Fragility
      The section considers whiteness as a social construct with many facets including white privilege and white supremacy. White fragility is also discussed as a lens to understanding why whiteness, white supremacy and white privilege persist, due to the racial discomfort that white Americans often feel when the topic of race is raised.
    • 6.4: Intersectionality
      As we presented intersectionality Chapters 1 and 2, this section considers some examples as to how the statuses and structures of race-ethnicity, social class, gender, sexuality, and nationality intersect to create differing experiences of white Americans.
    • 6.5: Social Institutions
      As the United States attempts to reduce racial and ethnic inequality, sociology has much insight to offer in its emphasis on the structural basis for this inequality. This emphasis strongly indicates that racial and ethnic inequality has much less to do with any personal faults of people of color than with the structural obstacles they face, including ongoing discrimination and lack of opportunity.
    • 6.6: Social Change and Resistance
      Social change often involves pendulum swings, which encompass advancements and setbacks regarding race-ethnic relations. Some social changes that impact white Americans or that have been spearheaded by white Americans are covered in this chapter. The section includes an analysis of the pendulum swings, oscillating between civil rights and white supremacy, with particular emphasis on social movements, including resistance and reform social movements.

    This page titled 6: Euro Americans and Whiteness is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Erika Gutierrez, Janét Hund, Shaheen Johnson, Carlos Ramos, Lisette Rodriguez, & Joy Tsuhako (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI)) .