The Discussion Around White Privilege by Web Dubois and Others

White supremacy suggests many cruel and terrifying things which include inequality, exclusion, injustice, and vigilante violence. The issue of white supremacy and racism seem to explain the theory of Durkheim, Simone De Beauvoir, and W.E.B Dubois. Collective consciousness is a fundamental concept for Durkheim that refers to the set of shared beliefs, ideas, attitudes, and knowledge that are common to a social group or society. Deeyah Khan, in the film White Right: Meeting the Enemy, explores how the values of white supremacy impact the lives of former and current white supremacists. She explores why there are hate groups around the world and why these groups are advocating for white supremacy. White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of all other races, especially the black race, and therefore should dominate society. White supremacy culture is reproduced by all institutions of society, in particular the media, educational systems, and western science.

In today’s society, white supremacy is on the rise and hate groups keep recruiting new members. It is a term that often carries a primarily legal and political connotation. More individuals join these groups because they have come from broken homes and poverty. White supremacy is often linked to far right extremists who are afraid that their race is under attack. By becoming a member, they feel connected to a group of people who come from similar backgrounds. People join hate groups in order to feel power because there was a time in their life they felt powerless. According to the article written by Simi and colleagues, there are four racist groups which are called the Ku Klux Klan, Christian Identity, Neo-Nazi, and Racist Skinheads (Simi et al, 2).Once an individual becomes a part of these groups, it’s very hard to leave. Disengagement from white supremacy is characterized by substantial lingering effects that subjects describe as addiction. “The process of leaving deeply meaningful and embodied identities can be experienced as a struggle against addiction with continuing cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses that are involuntary, unwanted and triggered by environmental factors” (Simi et al). Joining these groups creates a new identity for the members and often time they dedicate their lives to the movement.

Durkheim on White Supremacy

Race is a social fact in which the social and political significance of whiteness plays a critical role. According to Durkheim, the concepts of race and whiteness are social facts, meaning they do not require the action of individuals to continue (206). Social facts are the reason why people within a society do the same things, such as where they live, what they eat, and how they interact. “They consist of manners of acting, thinking, and feeling external to the individual, which are invested with a coercive power by virtue of which they exercise control over him” (205). These are concrete ideas that affect people’s everyday lives. Not only are these types of behavior and thinking external to the individual, but they are imbued with a compelling and coercive power whether he wishes it or not (204). He acknowledges the fact that all concepts are social facts and they are real because they determine what we do and what we feel. Durkheim was involved politically and participated in political scandals (Lecture 11). Durkheim is considered a political liberal, in that he advocated individual freedom and opposed impediments to the free operation of the division of labor. In this paper, I will use a Durkheimian perspective to see why people join hate groups and what produces the solidarity within the group.

The first question that arose after watching the film and reading the article is why do people join hate groups? Durkheim would ask this question because he is interested in the effect of the individual and the group. He was primarily interested in what holds society together when it is made up of people with specialized roles and responsibilities. This would fall under the concept of solidarity, which is the type and strength of bonds between individuals (Lecture 12). Society exists because individuals feel a sense of solidarity with each other (Lecture 12). In the film, Jeff Schoep, the leader of National Socialist Movement, understands why white supremacists act the way they do. He rationalizes this as a reaction to society changing around them. Durkheim would refer to changes in society as mechanical and organic solidarity. Mechanical solidarity is based on bonds of commonality, similarity, and strong collective consciousness (Lecture 12). “The individual does not belong to himself; he is literally a thing at the disposal of society” (233). Mechanical solidarity connects the individual to society. Society is organized collectively, and all members of the group share the same set of tasks and core beliefs (Lecture 12).When things in society don’t go as planned, there is a feeling of solidarity or crisis of solidarity. In this case, Jeff Schoep recognizes that society is not operates they way they want it to.

Durkheim would hypothesize that participation in theses groups increase social integration. In other words, people join hate group because they seek powerful experiences and want to feel part of a group which “includes a complete identity transformation, in much the way that describes opiate addiction” (Simi et al, 8) “Addiction can be defined as thoughts, emotions, bodily experiences, and unwanted behavior of a chronic, relapsing, and compulsive nature that occur despite negative consequences and are characterized by episodes where people feel they have lost control” (Simi et al. 5). White supremacy groups allow their members to feel powerful as if they are above everyone else. This often time leading them to become addicted to the power, causing them to remain a part of these organizations.

Many of the white nationalists who were interviewed in the film experience loneliness, or what Durkheim might refer to as anomie. Anomie eventually becomes a part of their internal structure. Durkheim explains anomie by claiming “the limits are unknown between the possible and the impossible, what is just and what is unjust… All classes contend among themselves because no established classification any longer exists (239). There was a point in their lives where they felt a sense of disconnect from their community, whether it was because they were living in poverty or they came from a broken home which caused them to feel isolated (Film, Khan).

For the second question, I was interested to see what produces the solidarity within the group. Durkheim would be interested in this question because he studied religion within group settings. In this case, I hypothesize that groups symbols and rituals produce collective consciousness within these communities. Hate groups have a shared experience around symbols and slogans. These symbols, which people organize themselves around, are crucial to feel like they share one identity. The documentary shows a group of white supremacists chanting in a parking lot before a rally, saying, “now we start the deportation” (Film, Khan). These type of chants brings people together giving them a common goal. The sacred object which in this case is the chant, must be protected, and oftentimes rituals are performed. It is considered to be sacred only because a community has marked it as sacred. Once it is labeled sacred, it becomes a symbol of religious beliefs. For these groups the symbol of the swastika is considered sacred. For each member, the swastika and salutes hold different meaning. For example, a Hispanic employee at Jack in the Box got an order wrong and a former white nationalist got angry. “I told her, White power, and I walked out and I threw a heil up [Nazi salute]” (Simi et al, 12). The power of collective representations and ideas change the society. People assembled can exhibit a special state of collective effervescence (251). Collective effervescence refers to moments in societal life when a group of individuals that makes up the society come together in order to perform a religious ritual. Another example of religious rituals would be from the film; there was a scene about combat training where an individual wanted to practice getting pepper sprayed in the face. This idea of getting pepper sprayed shows a significant practice that these people hold because getting pepper sprayed is common when attending White Civil Rights rallies.

Self and Society Essay

The achievement of the self was fundamentally shaped by racial hierarchy. The world and the self is viewed through a veil. DuBois discusses the constant awareness of dissimilarity to others. Dubois considered himself as the ‘other’ because he was an African American male who was constantly outcast by white Americans. White supremacists look at society through the veil of their skin color, whereas people of color look at social, economic, and political aspects of society. The issue of white supremacy and racism was a concern for Dubois, just like it was for Durkheim. A question that would reflect Dubois’ work would be, how did the people within white supremacist groups articulate collective identity? He would ask this question because he is interested to find out why people act the way they do. I would hypothesize that they keep themselves as a group to understand themselves as the ‘other’.

According to Dubois, racism is an outcome of the double consciousness. People view themselves through the eyes of other people and they cannot separate themselves from society. “It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity” (405). This quote tries to explain that Black people in America can’t be themselves because being any other race than white is considered to be a minority, causing white Americans will look down on you. In other words, individuals of color are stuck in this double-consciousness because they’re forced to see themselves not just as a person, but specifically as a black person. Ken Parker, a former Neo Nazi, admitted that the ‘other’ groups, such as Jews and homosexuals, should be exterminated. After the interview, he claimed that Muslims were okay and he wouldn’t mess with them anymore, but he still dislikes all other races.

Almost everyone in the film claimed they believed that the white race is under attack. They feel as if the ‘other’ people are taking jobs and opportunities away from white Americans (Film, Khan). Whites have historically been viewed as perpetrators of bias, with racial minorities as the victims. White Americans overall are experiencing lower birth rates and overall immigration has increased to the United States. White supremacists are worried that if ‘other’ people come to the States, they won’t be at the top of the hierarchy anymore.

Simone De Beauvoir’s theories can relate to the issue of white supremacy. White supremacy connects and combines racism to colonialism and capitalism. White supremacy intersects and interconnects with sexism, and particularly the patriarchy as a global system that oppresses and denies women’s dignity and the right to be different from men, who are the ruling gender in society. She claims that women are the ‘other’ and are treated as such in society. “She is determined and differentiated in relation to man, while he is not in relation to her; she is the inessential in front of the essential. He is the Subject…She is the Other” (26). This relates to white supremacy because the film only portrayed white males. Women were not actively participating in the movement, but often times were on the sideline supporting their husbands or boyfriends. In addition, the director of the documentary is considered an ‘other’ because she is a woman of color.

De Beauvoir would be interested in looking at the role of gender, so she would potentially ask how does gender play a role in hate groups? My hypothesis for this question would be that gender plays a role because masculinity drives these hate groups. White supremacy primates a violent tendencies, not only expressed through verbal slurs, but physical violence as well. As a result of the violent tendencies, an innocent female, Heather Hyer, died due to a white rights activists crashing a car into a group of protestors opposing the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville (Film, Khan). This case was about the drivers decision to act on his anger when he saw the protestors. “When directed at a social group, hate often refers to extreme dislike associated with prejudice that provokes aggressive impulses” (Simi et al, 5). This quote emphasizes the idea that when a white nationalists dislike a group of people, they often act on their emotions to show their hate.

De Beauvoir’s language of the self and the ‘other’ provided a lens of masculine domination as the imposing domination on the ‘other’. She has been denied from participating in society because of her gender. The ideology of male supremacy, represents all women as genetically inferior, who exist primarily for their reproductive and sexual functions. Hypermasculinity is over exaggerated male stereotypical behavior such as a strong emphasis in strength, aggression and sexuality. Men portray hypermasculinity because it gives them power over women. An example of this in the film was when Ken Parker didn’t want to go to his own graduation because he didn’t want to wear a dress (Film, Khan). This shows that he takes pride in his masculinity and he does not participate in anything that can be considered feminine. Another interviewee that showed hyper masculine traits was Peter Tuft. He wanted everyone to like him when he was younger but often times he felt like a ghost at school. Eventually he joined the Nationalist Socialist movement and he gained power over others. He saw so much wrong with the world, which made him rethink certain aspects of life and he felt like it was his duty to act heroically. He later compares himself to fictional superheroes, because others at his church thank him for being a warrior of Christ.

Conclusion

While Durkheim correctly argues that racism is a crisis of solidarity because individuals do not have a collective consciousness that binds people together, Dubois and De Beauvoir, in my opinion, present a more compelling argument. I think their argument is more persuasive because their idea of being an ‘other’ relates strongly to society. For many years, people of color and women have been fighting for equality and are still fighting today to receive the same rights as white male Americans. In addition, masculinity, specifically for white males, is a fixed mindset where they need to be dominant and above everyone else. This results in supremacy groups and the perpetration of hate crimes. This notion is sadly ingrained in our society and it is very hard for individuals to drift away from this sort of thinking. As much as I agree with Durkheim on his concepts of religion and rituals, I do believe there is a deeper meaning on what produces solidarity within the group. He does present a strong argument, but does not specifically look at mindset at an individual level. This is because his main theory is used to support evidence for a group as a whole. This issue of white supremacy only continues to get worse as the years go by, unless we as a society can come up with a solution. Using theorist such as Durkheim, Dubois, and De Beauvoir can help society as a whole understand the thought process of white supremacists and why they won’t accept the ‘other’.