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He maintains the wages of whiteness actually helped contribute to capitalism and the class system in our own society, and so, they ultimately led to more feelings of racism and hatred, as well. The author asserts this early in the book, and then uses the remainder of the book to back up his theories with research and theory.
The author uses a vast array of sources, mostly in print, to come to and prove his theories. He includes vast sections of notes and sources at the end of each chapter indicating the depth of his research and knowledge. He also uses the four sections of this book to delve into his initial theories much more heavily, and again, he relies on numerous, varied sources to prove his theories and get his point across to the reader. For example, in one section of the book, he maintains that during and after the Civil War, there was "tendency to equate Blackness with servility" (Roediger 174), and he cites specific examples from his research where he formed these ideas and can prove them. The key to good research is being able to dissimulate the research into a convincing form that convinces others of the scope and depth of your research, and the author accomplishes this by using a vast array of sources and then citing them effectively to make his points.
It is clear that the author developed his ideas about race and racism early in his life, and...
He says in the first chapter of the book that he began to recognize racism early and did not understand it, and has worked to eradicate it from an early age. This context certainly shapes his text, because he attempts to show why racism exists, but also how to conquer it. In the Afterward, he notes there are several "mistakes" in his original text, including the assumption that only white males made up the initial working class of America. However, this reader feels he did make his points strongly and backed them up with outstanding research, and he simply may be a little too hard on himself in retrospect of his work. However, it is clear the author is against racism, and if anything, that bias or perspective may come through in the text, and even may have led to his assumptions about the American working class.
This book is an intriguing look into the racial history of America, and it looks at some things that other authors have overlooked. The author may think it is flawed, but this reader found it fascinating, if a bit too scholarly. It should be a part of any historian's bookshelf who is interested in class, race, and identity in America, and how it is formed.
References
Roediger, David R. The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class. New York: Verso, 1999.
Weaknesses include the long and laborious task of reading the work, one which I and many others may find oppressive and overly academic in nature. Perhaps Roediger would have benefited by providing his audience with story telling or other tools the reader could use to actively engage in the activities provided throughout the book. As one continues reading they soon realize Roediger provides his own interpretation and synthesis of psychoanalysis from
' Culture, in Buck's point-of-view, and the construction of race, thus had a greater importance upon the creation of modern Kentucky than a logical evaluation of individual's real interests. This is why both whites and blacks have been worked to the bone. Discrimination against poor whites still abounds in present-day Kentucky in the form of stereotypes. Poor whites are often characterized as supposed 'rednecks' who deserve their economic fate because their
It seems to this reviewer that the practices of the white workers that Roediger describes are not far removed from this. Though they did not own the blacks, they worked to hold them down so that they themselves could be made to feel superior. Roediger may want to call such behavior prepolitical, apparently in the belief that only when class distinctions enter does the relationship become political. However, class and
However, the social perceptions that could have gained her an easier entry into low-class work also could have kept her there, and prevented her from entering a management position. Gender in the absence of race seems to be the cutting divide at the Maids, while the individual who is in charge of the franchise is male, and a male voice guides the Hispanic demonstrator on the tape. But in
Each brings the evidence to light by utilizing a different set of sources, one slightly more personal and narrative than the other but both clearly expressive of the expansion of the ideals of America as a "white" masculine society of working class people that needed and obtained voice through ideals that attempted, at least to some degree to skirt the issue of race. Race was represented in both works
The Problem of White Normativity In a multi-racial world, defining anyone as “black” or “white” makes as much sense as believing that all issues are “black” and “white” and that there are no shades of gray to anything. Almost everyone will certainly agree that from politics to economics to religion to any subject under the sun, there is a great deal of leeway to be given because to rigidly peg something