stuff white people like

In case you hadn’t run across this blog, I wanted to point you to Stuff White People Like. The list includes “study abroad,” “juno,” “gentrification,” “irony” and “gifted children.” Some of the entries are more thoughtful than others but almost call attention to what sociologists call the construction of whiteness. Coming off our gender conversation, I think this is a great example of how formation of other aspects of self are taken for granted.

Reading the comments (there are usually hundreds per entry) it’s interesting to note how offended people are by the very idea of the blog. Lots of people call it racist and ask if it would be fair to drudge up other racial stereotypes (”Jews love money!” “Black people love rap!”). I’m always intrigued by this kind of equality rhetoric. I don’t have a lot of room for equality per say in my social construction. Power is always an object that prohibits making comparisons between Jews Love Money and Stuff White People Like. This power differential has historically been used as a tool of oppression by white people.

Naming the construction of whiteness (see Thandeka for a brilliant exposition on the topic) is actually a deconstruction/unmasking of the power to use our socially construed selves to invalidate otherness. White people like to think we’re the only ones who aren’t formed as such.

So, White People, if you’re looking to pull off the wool from your eyes, take a look at SWPL. We’ve been found out.