I Didn't Ask for Any of This

White) Privilege, the American (Dream) Family, and Health Care

Bibliographic Data

ID2409154
AuthorsRyan King-White (0000-0001-7627-2254)
Year2022
Volume22
Issue5
Pages533-543
Publication date2022-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1532-7086 • E-ISSN: 1552-356X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/15327086221094290
OpenAlexW4293061487
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited30

As a cisgendered White male who emerged from a decidedly working-class family, the national fantasy of achieving the prototypical 'American Dream' (i.e., working a white-collar job, getting married and raising children in 'good' neighborhoods, and an opportunity at a better quality of life for our offspring) has long been socialized into my life. However, as I have reached the supposed mountaintop both personally and professionally to become part of what Stewart terms the 'New American Aristocracy'-that is, the so-called 9.9%-so too have I become increasingly discomfited by that which it represents. In this autoethnographic narrative accounting, I offer a critical yet necessarily confessional look back at the concessions, complications, and privileges my family's subjective performances of Whiteness have revealed about the ever-growing toxic class divide in the United States. The results of our exchange will and cannot be perfect, but, hopefully, a step in a better direction

Art · Confessional · Dream · Fantasy · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Privilege (computing · Race (biology · Sociology · White (mutation · White privilege · Working class · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Psychology · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research · Gender Studies · Law

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