Whither the White Working Class? A Comment on Khanna and Harris, 'Discovering Race in a 'Post-Racial' World: Teaching Race through Primetime Television'

Even though I recognize the value of using the mass media to teach sociological concepts and reveal racial biases, I caution against the use of classroom exercises that are developed solely in the context of whiteness studies. Overarching statements of white privilege mask complex race-class interactions generally and the mass media's stereotypical depictions of the white working class specifically. In this "conversation," I explain why the use of the concept white privilege in and of itself obfuscates more than it reveals complex race-class interactions today.