The Pages of Whiteness: Theory, Evidence, and the American Immigration Debate

Authors

Cian T. McMahon, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-30-2015

Publication Title

Race & Class

Volume

56

Issue

4

First page number:

40

Last page number:

55

Abstract

The author traces the growth and decline of whiteness studies over the past two and a half decades, from the publication of David Roediger’s The Wages of Whiteness in the early 1990s to the present day. Although it accurately identified race as a social construct in modern society, ‘whiteness’ also employed over-simplifications that ultimately undermined its critical relevance. Nonetheless, the author demonstrates how the colourful career of ‘whiteness’ as a scholarly concept can inform contemporary debates over immigration and identity.

Keywords

American immigration; Irish Americans; People of colour; race; Wages of Whiteness; Whiteness Studies

Repository Citation

McMahon, C. T. (2015). The Pages of Whiteness: Theory, Evidence, and the American Immigration Debate. Race & Class, 56(4), 40-55.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0306396814567407