Seeing White: An Introduction to White Privilege and Race

Seeing White: An Introduction to White Privilege and Race, Second Editionis an interdisciplinary, supplemental textbook that challenges undergraduate students to see race as everyone’s issue. The book’s early chapters establish a solid understanding of privilege and power, leading to a critical exploration of discrimination. The authors also draw upon key theoretical perspectives, such as cultural materialism, critical race theory, and the social construction of race to provide students with the tools to discuss racial privilege. The book’s interdisciplinary approach, including perspectives from sociology, psychology, history, and economics provides a holistic and accessible introduction to the challenging issue of race.
Throughout the book, compelling, concrete examples and detailed definitions of terminology help students to understand theoretical perspectives and research evidence. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter encourage students to think critically about the theories and evidence, often prompting students to relate the material in the text to their own experiences.
New to this Edition
New Chapter 4, “White Supremacy and Other Forms of Everyday Racism,” provides a history of white supremacy and its links to racism todayNew research on racial disparities in health equity helps debunk the idea of race as a biological category (Chapter 2)Revised Chapter 6, “Socioeconomic Class and White Privilege,” offers new material on the economic privilege of whiteness and the uneven distribution of American wealth Expanded history and discussion of Immigration laws including Chinese Exclusion Act, Immigration Act of 1924 and 1965 Hart-Celler Act present immigration in a global context and challenge anti-immigration rhetoric New as well as updated stories on exclusion from white spaces and the normativity of white culture engage students in critical reflection

Jean Halley is a professor of sociology at the College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). Her first book about breastfeeding, children’s sleep, gender and parenting, Boundaries of Touch: Parenting and Adult-Child Intimacy, was published in 2007. That year, she also assisted Patricia Ticineto Clough in editing The Affective Turn: Theorizing the Social. Halley’s The Parallel Lives of Women and Cows: Meat Markets, a combination of memoir and social history of cattle ranching in the United States, came out in 2012. Halley and Amy Eshleman published Seeing Straight: An Introduction to Gender and Sexual Privilege on gender and heteronormativity in 2017. Halley’s Horse Crazy: Girls and the Lives of Horses, came out in 2019. Ron Nerio's and Halley's The Roads to Hillbrow: Making Life in South Africa’s Community of Migrants comes out with Fordham University Press in 2022.
Amy Eshleman is a professor of psychology and regularly teaches classes at Wagner College on race, class, gender, and sexuality, in which she shares with students her research on expressions of prejudice. In addition to co-authoring Seeing Straight: An Introduction to Gender and Sexual Privilege with Jean Halley, she has published many articles in peer-reviewed journals including Women's Studies, Review of Black Political Economy, Learning Communities Research Practice, and Journal of Applied Social Psychology. She holds a PhD in social psychology from the University of Kansas.
Ramya Vijaya is a professor of economics at Stockton University in New Jersey. Her research is in the area of labor market inequalities, globalization, and feminist political economy. She coauthored the book Indian Immigrant Women and Work: The American Experience, published in 2016.She has published multiple articles on gender, work, and structural economic inequalities in academics journals as well as news media outlets such as the Washington Post, The Conversation, and the Scroll.In. Vijaya holds a PhD in economics from American University.