{"id":1698,"date":"2017-11-21T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T14:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=1698"},"modified":"2017-11-20T09:58:51","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T15:58:51","slug":"what-is-white-supremacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2017\/11\/21\/what-is-white-supremacy\/","title":{"rendered":"What is \u201cWhite Supremacy\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Mark Dixon, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Neo-Nazi swastikas, explicitly racist chants and slogans, and public demonstrations with hoods and torches, as seen recently in places likes\u00a0<\/span>Charlottesville<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0are what signal white supremacy for many Americans. Yet, for over a decade, activists and policy makers have used the phrase \u201cwhite supremacy\u201d in different ways, moving beyond extremist ideologies and individuals\u2019 bigoted beliefs to focus on the deep historical structure and institutional dimensions of racial inequality in social life. Perhaps not surprisingly, sociologists have been at the forefront of parsing out this broader usage and meaning of white supremacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather than focusing solely on explicit prejudice and organized hate groups, recent sociological uses of the term describe how the very nature of American society inherently privileges white people, white identities, and the status of whiteness. This includes how white people fare better in economic terms, as well as how white people experience superior outcomes in other ways, such as education and health, and how all of these systemic inequalities happen through established institutional arrangements, cultural norms, and public policies. For scholars with this emphasis, America is a \u201cwhite supremacist\u201d nation — not because individuals or the law are explicitly prejudiced, but because white privilege is central to American social life. <\/span><\/h5>\n