Lehigh University |
Moravian College |
Attendance: August 2009 – May 2011 Degree Level: Master in Arts Area of Study: Sociology Interests: Intersection of Race, Class an Privilege Thesis: Perceptions of Whiteness and Class Privilege in a Post-Obama America Abstract: The election of President Obama in 2008 marks an important moment in American history. To most Americans, this election provides evidence of our success in improving race relations and limiting racial inequality in the United States. Research on the ways that this election has affected perceptions of stratification is essential to our understanding of many aspects of inequality in the contemporary period. Research on social class and whiteness shows the difficulty Americans have in acknowledging unearned advantage and disadvantage. Here we look closely at one segment of the population by asking the question, “How has Obama’s election influenced the way upper class whites perceive their whiteness and class privilege?” Interviews with 20 college students at a private university reveal the complex perceptions of white privilege in a post-Obama America. These interviews review three major findings in respect to perceptions of privilege and the election of President Obama. (1) White students use color-blind ideology to justify their decision to vote or support the president, (2) to many of the participants, the President’s election reaffirmed the student’s belief in the ideology of meritocracy, and (3) the election of President Barack Obama threatens student privilege, but the current ideologies settle their unease. These ideologies enabled students to justify their privileged positions. In the end, I will argue that the election of America’s first African American president has not changed, but reaffirmed, the existing perceptions of privilege held by white and wealthy Americans.
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Attendance: August 2003 – May 2007 Degree Level: Bachelors in Arts Area of Study: Sociology Interests: Intersection of Race, Class and Privilege, Lacrosse |