American Dream and Society

¶ … White and Its Impact on One's Position And Status In Society Being white in the modern world affects one's position and status in society because society is very much the outcome of white Anglo-Saxon protestant (WASP) foundations, ideology, and practices that began hundreds of years ago with the break-up of Europe united under one faith, wherein all peoples who accepted that faith were viewed as part of the same mystical body.

With the rise of Protestantism, the view changed, and every individual body or group of people held their own faith, and the ideology of the WASP came to dominate much of the world, fueling capitalism, colonialism, and industrialization. Today, diversity is discussed yet the WASP ideology is still strong under the surface and segregation is evident in society. Thus, being white is like being part of the WASP club, of being born into a socially acceptable position based on one's heritage (racial and ethnic background).

If one is white, one is most likely to be an inheritor of the protestant ethos that has driven much of history over the past 500 years. As Bernasconi (2010) points out, the philosophy of the white Anglo-Saxon protestants during the Enlightenment effectively shaped the way we think of ourselves today.

Friedman (1990) echoes this sentiment in her discussion of normative objectivity, showing that the accepted trends and patterns on how we interpret and act in society is based on the system of normative ethics that have been passed down to us from this time and point in history. Therefore, if one is white, one feels a sense of superiority to others because for the last hundreds of years, the white Anglo-Saxon protestant empire has colonized, industrialized, capitalized and dominated much of the globe.

The Establishment that governs the West is made up of the WASP group of people, and a white person by normative theory feels akin to this group even if he does not share their ideology: he has reaped the benefits of their and their ancestors' work by having a vaulted position in society -- a place where leadership, authority and ability is believed to reside. One's perspective is thus shaped by being white in the sense that one comes to expect a certain privilege associated with being white.

One believes that doors should open, that the American Dream should be possible, and that wealth, creativity, and happiness are all within grasp because of one's whiteness. Whiteness in a way equals purity because of the doctrines and ideologies of the WASP philosophies, which have elevated the status of the Anglo Saxon protestant above other groups and minorities. The white person's perspective is rooted in privilege and not in equality, even though the liberal doctrines of the past have celebrated equality, fraternity and liberty.

At a very superficial level, these ideals have been held, but never have they been achieved in WASP society. In fact, in America, the WASPs participated in a eugenics movement that focused on sterilizing blacks, which gave rise to the advent of birth control (Jones, 2000). This was advocated by white society as a means of solidifying their own control over other undesirables. Today, this message of being undesirable is still felt in much of society, as political discourse is impacted by.