The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics

By George Lipsitz

Book Overview

George Lipsitz's classic book The Possessive Investment in Whiteness argues that public policy and private prejudice work together to create a possessive investment in whiteness that is responsible for the racialized hierarchies of our society. Whiteness has a cash value: it accounts for advantages that come to individuals through profits made from housing secured in discriminatory markets, through the unequal educational opportunities available to children of different races, through insider networks that channel employment opportunities to the friends and relatives of those who have profited most from past and present discrimination, and especially through intergenerational transfers of inherited wealth that pass on the spoils of discrimination to succeeding generations. White Americans are encouraged to invest in whiteness, to remain true to an identity that provides them with structured advantages.

In this twentieth anniversary edition, Lipsitz provides a new introduction and updated statistics; as well as analyses of the enduring importance of Hurricane Katrina; the nature of anti-immigrant mobilizations; police assaults on Black women, the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Freddie Gray; the legacy of Obama and the emergence of Trump; the Charleston Massacre and other hate crimes; and the ways in which white fear, white fragility, and white failure have become drivers of a new ethno-nationalism.

As vital as it was upon its original publication, the twentieth anniversary edition of The Possessive Investment in Whiteness is an unflinching but necessary look at white supremacy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 143991639X
• ISBN13: 9781439916391
• Release Date: July 2018
• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Racism In A Nutshell

How often have you walked around thinking about an issue, thinking how helpful it would be if you could only articulate those thoughts? And, one day, you pick up a book and find that the author has spoken for you, clearly defined those issues and provided a history that explains the causes of your disquietude? George Lipsitz has done just that in "The Possessive Investment In Whiteness... ." Why is affirmative action under attack and by whom? How do Euro-Americans benefit from skin privilege whether they are racist or not? Why is California "the Mississippi of the 1990s"? What was the real agenda of Mr. Bakke in launching a legal battle against "reverse racism"? Who was Bill Moore? What are the roles of Clarence Thomas and Ward Callender in claiming and perpetuating a conservative agenda that supports skin privilege? Lipsitz answers these questions and more. While Lipsitz speaks from a decidedly liberal stance, he supports each of his contentions with a shopping list of facts to support them.This is a valuable contribution to American discourse on the issue of race and how it affects, still, American society. More importantly, it is one of the few books I have read that seems intended for the education of Euro-Americans who, as Lipsitz makes clear, are also victims of racism and can only benefit from its elimination as well as the elimination of benefits based solely or largely, and certainly historically, upon skin privilege. But how can institutionalized racism that permeates the entire history of this country be fought? The first step must be to recognize what the possessive investment in whiteness is and why and how it is perpetuated. Lipsitz has offered a remarkable primer for that first step to every American citizen who longs for the day that we will all be, truly, just Americans who are judged only by the content of our character.

Just Excellent

I can't disagree more with the negative reviews of this book. I found it to be thorough, nuanced, and thought provoking. Lipsitz's thesis about the possessive investment in whiteness is an intriguing one and frames the issue of whiteness is a helpful manner. Particularly impressive to me is the range of his work, which truly meets the challenge to do interdisciplinary work (a challenge that we too often fail at or neglect). He incorporates and integrates analyses of the economy, of the law (such as housing law) and policy with studies of culture and the media. Dozens of books have been published under the rubric of "whiteness studies" in the past decade (some of it of mediocre quality). This book, though, should go on the "must read" list of anyone interested in this growing field.

An eloquent examination of American racial identity.

Professor Lipsitz has written non-fiction that reads like a novel about America's most unfortunate issue. He wastes no time in declaring that "Whiteness has a cash value..." He skillfully takes the reader through an economic, historic and psychological saga that demonstrates the value of white identity in a variety of areas. What makes this book so interesting is that Professor Lipsitz goes beyond the black/white binary. He pays particular attention to European immigrants who were initially not part of "white" society until it served a purpose. Discussions on Asian and Latino Americans are informative and fresh. He is fearless in his discussion of white supremacy/privilege and throws a huge monkey wrench into the debate surrounding so-called affirmative action. This book is a must read for anyone starting an investigtion into the new discipline of White Studies or as a adjunct to Black Studies.