Critical race theory and working‐class White men: Exploring race privilege and lower‐class work‐life

Abstract

Research portraying the lives of working‐class (White) men has generally paid much more attention to class and gender than to race. By failing to problematize Whiteness, this literature obscures the racial privileges that working‐class Whites can access even as they are marginalized along the lines of class. This study applies critical race theory to analyse the dynamic intersection between the racial and gender privilege available to working‐class White men from their position of social and economic marginality. It empirically builds on the ethnographic study of a small North American company in the construction industry. This study makes three main contributions. First, it argues that even as the position of working‐class White men in the current class order limits their life chances, they nevertheless access small but significant benefits based on race. Second, it contributes to current conversations on White privilege by showing how such privilege manifests itself differently depending on social class position. Third, it underscores the importance of intersectional analysis in understanding how different social identities interact to reproduce racism and capitalism.