Page 143 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

The Invisible Whiteness of Being: The Nature of the Beast 117

Table 6.1 Four-Step Process Model of Whiteness-to-Racism Conversion
Whites vary in the level of awareness they possess regarding the transformation
process and how they are situated in the process.
Completely Unaware -----------------→ Minimally Aware -------------→ Fully Aware
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whiteness
The constellation of physical features most characterized by fair or light skin color/
tone. Other physical features may be considered ideal (associated with Western traits)
such as blond hair, blue eyes, or elongated face. Whiteness alone conveys neither
positive nor negative valence.
+
White Supremacy
A doctrine of White racial superiority and non-White inferiority that justifi es domination
and prejudicial treatment of minority groups. It strongly attributes positive qualities to
Whiteness and negative qualities to non-White groups.
+
Power Imposition
The ability to defi ne racial reality by imposing White supremacist ideology and beliefs
on the general population (both Whites and people of color).
+
Tools of Imposition
Schooling and Education + Mass Media + Signifi cant Others and Organizations
These three mechanisms are used to convey the superiority of Whiteness and its
associated correlates through a process of social conditioning.
=
White Racism
The individual, institutional, and cultural expression of the superiority of one group’s
cultural heritage over another and the power to impose and enforce that worldview
upon the general populace.

1. White Privilege
(Advantage)
Unearned advantages and benefi ts that accrue to Whites by virtue of a system
normed on the experiences, values, and perceptions of the group.
2. Non-White Inferiority
(Disadvantage)
Unequal/unfair treatment that occurs to people of color, not from their own actions,
but based solely on the color of their skin or visible physical features.

Source: Adapted from Sue (2006).

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