Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry.It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view.
It defines "white people" as "people having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa". [6] The Federal Bureau of Investigation uses the same definition. [7] The definition actually does vary and is also published as "a light skinned race", which avoids inclusion of any sort of nationality or ethnicity. [8]
Whiteness studies is the study of the structures that produce white privilege, [1] the examination of what whiteness is when analyzed as a race, a culture, and a source of systemic racism, [2] and the exploration of other social phenomena generated by the societal compositions, perceptions and group behaviors of white people. [3]
Whiteness theory is a field within whiteness studies concerned with what white identity means in terms of social, political, racial, economic, culture, etc. [1] Whiteness theory posits that if some Western societies make whiteness central to their respective national and cultural identities, their white populations may become blind to the privilege associated with White identity.
The word "race", interpreted to mean an identifiable group of people who share a common descent, was introduced into English in the 16th century from the Old French rasse (1512), from Italian razza: the Oxford English Dictionary cites the earliest example around the mid-16th century and defines its early meaning as a "group of people belonging to the same family and descended from a common ...
Social interpretations of race regard the common categorizations of people into different races.Race is often culturally understood to be rigid categories (Black, White, Pasifika, Asian, etc) in which people can be classified based on biological markers or physical traits such as skin colour or facial features.
The author says the idea of race is not just a matter of biology but also includes "concepts of labor, gender, class, and images of personal beauty". [1] The earliest European societies, including the Greeks and Romans, had no concept of race and classified people by ethnicity and social class, with the lowest class being slaves. [1]
White Americans (sometimes also called Caucasian Americans) are Americans who identify as white people.In a more official sense, the United States Census Bureau, which collects demographic data on Americans, defines "white" as "[a] person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa".