Journal of Intercultural Studies

Vol. 31, No. 1, February 2010, pp. 111!120

Emerging Themes on Aspects of

Social Class and the Discourse
of White Privilege
Jennifer Heller

The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent that theorists of white privilege vary in
their emphasis of intersectionality. Since few theorists incorporate gender, theoretical
differences that explain why some authors emphasise class differences and others not are
identified. Race and class intersect for the following reasons: First, investment in whiteness
is viewed as a means to achieving greater material resources, and is not an end in itself.
Second, white privilege is historically located by explanations of how specific occupations
or income levels of whites benefit from direct material conflict with non-whites. Third,
materially based conflict among whites is a significant factor for between-race conflicts, as
claims of white privilege made by working whites are said to be motivated by a
combination of compensation for within-race class exploitation and a judgment that the
material conditions of non-whites were too similar.

Keywords: Class; Intersectionality; Material Privilege; Race; White Privilege

Introduction
While the majority of work on racial inequality in the USA focuses on disadvantages
associated with being a racial minority, theorists of white privilege challenge that it is
equally important to examine the advantages of being white. The theory of white
privilege has recently been criticised because few studies explicitly describe how
whites experience racial privileges across class and gender differences. A more
comprehensive understanding of racial advantage is achieved when theorists indicate
how whiteness leads to the manifestations of materially based advantages as it
interacts with other social features such as race, class and gender, which shape

Jennifer Heller is a doctoral candidate in the department of sociology at the University of Saskatchewan. Her
research interests include the intersectionality of social inequalities, feminist epistemologies, sociological theory
and the family. Correspondence to: Jennifer Heller, Department of Sociology, University of Saskatchewan,
1019-9 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5A5, Canada. Email: jlh251@mail.usask.ca

ISSN 0725-6868 print/ISSN 1469-9540 online/10/010111-10

# 2010 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/07256860903477670
112 J. Heller

identity and life chances. The purpose of this paper is to explain how theorists of
white privilege vary in their emphasis of class differences in order to understand the
extent to which theorists incorporate intersectionality, or the interaction of aspects of
social location, in their discussions of material and psychological benefits derived
from income and employment. An understanding of why some authors emphasise
class differences and others do not is needed to expand our theoretical understanding
of the diversity of the processes and manifestations of white privilege.

White Privilege and Intersectionality

A white racial identity in the USA is associated with numerous psychological and
economic benefits, regardless of whether the individual takes an active interest or is
aware of the manifestations of white privilege. In studying race relations after the
Civil War, DuBois noted that poor whites received a psychological wage, in addition
to any economic benefits they received due to their race, because they could still vote
and were not segregated from other whites (298). McIntosh, who coined the phrase
‘white privilege’, identifies the phenomenon as the systematic over-empowerment of
whites, which confers economic and psychological dominance simply because of
one’s race (147). When studying white privilege, the focus is on effects and processes
of social structures which over-reward whites. First, theorists call attention to the
over-representation of whites in desirable occupations due to structural discrimina-
tory employment patterns (Bonilla-Silva White Supremacy; Lipsitz; Harris). Second,
passive participation in the economic status quo occurs when whites deny or take for
granted the material benefits of whiteness; such actions contribute to psychological
advantages when whites assume that a higher material standard of living is evidence
of superior talent and merit rather than the result of structural favouritism (Rains;
Jensen; McIntosh). Finally, theorists address how whiteness is constructed as a
disadvantage by supposed victims of affirmative action who engage in material
conflicts with racial minorities by claiming that being white results in missed
occupational opportunities that are reserved for racial minorities, all the while
ignoring unearned existing occupational benefits that were derived because of their
racial background (Winant; Hurtado).
To fully understand multidimensional aspects of unearned racial advantage,
attention should also be paid to social class, gender and ethnic identity because
systems of oppression are interlocking (McIntosh 152; Frankenberg 21). Despite
widespread agreement that the use of intersectionality is essential for understanding
how white privilege is experienced among whites of different classes and gender, few
theorists utilise intersectionality (Doane 17). With this in mind, it is important not to
overlook instances where theorists incorporate intersectionality through illustrating
the phenomenon and manifestations of white privilege in a class-specific way by
supporting theoretical claims with empirical data that calls attention to a specific
occupation or income level. The focus of this paper is limited to the intersection of
whiteness with aspects of social class, because few studies incorporate gender or