The study of white ethnicities is becoming increasingly important in the social sciences. This book provides a critical introduction to the topic.

Whiteness has traditionally been seen as "ethnically transparent" - the marker against which other ethnicities are measured. This analysis is clearly incorrect, but only recently have many race and ethnicity scholars moved away from focusing on ethnic minorities and instead oriented their studies around the construction of white identities. Simon Clarke and Steve Garner's book is designed to guide students as they explore how white identities are forged using both sociological and psycho-social ideas.

Including an excellent survey of the existing literature and original research from the UK, this book will be an invaluable guide for sociology students taking modules in race and ethnicity.

Professor Simon Clarke is Director of the Centre for Psycho-Social Studies at the University of the West of England. He is author of several books including Social Theory, Psychoanalysis and Racism (2003) and From Enlightenment to Risk: Social Theory and Contemporary Society (2005). He is editor of Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society.

Steve Garner is Lecturer in Sociology at Aston University. He is the author of 'Racism in the Irish Experience' (2003), 'Whiteness' (2007) and 'Racisms' (2009). He also taught sociology at the Universities of Paris, Cork, and Bristol-UWE.

1. Researching 'Whiteness': An Introduction
2. Whiteness Studies in the Context of the USA
3. Empirical research into white racialised identities in Britain
4. Britishness
5. Whiteness and Post-Imperial Britain
6. Psycho-Social Interpretations of Cultural Identity: constructing the white 'we'
7. Media Representations: constructing the 'not white' Other
8. Whiteness, Home and Community
9. Researching Whiteness: Psycho-Social Methodologies
10. Conclusions
Notes
Bibliography
Index