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"Whites" redirects here. For other uses, see White (disambiguation).

The term "White people" (also "whites", or "white race") has been defined as "being a member of a group or race characterized by light pigmentation of the skin" and "to a human group having light-coloured skin, especially of European ancestry." The term white does not refer color of skin per se--the people described can have a variety of skin colors--but rather denotes their membership in larger group of people. In the phrase white people it functions as a color metaphor for race, one that emerged from a racialized, European historical context.

The term has been applied with varying degrees of formality and consistency in many disciplines. Such disciplines include sociology, political science, genetics, biology, medicine, biomedicine, human languages, cultural analysis, and legal analysis.

The definition of White people has varied in different time periods and locations. Any definition has implications for areas as diverse as national identity, consanguinity, public policy, religion, population statistics, racial segregation, affirmative action, eugenics, racial marginalization and racial quotas. Even though the natural sciences have been used in the past to justify disparate treatments based on racial background, some consider race today as largely a sociological construct, the definition of which is subject to change as society evolves.

History of the term

Ancient Greece and Rome used white (lenkon in Greek; alba in Latin) as one description of skin color. Its light appearance was distinguished, for example, in a comparison of white-skinned Persian soldiers from the sun-tanned skin of Greek troops in Xenophon's Agesilaus. One early use of the term appears in the Amherst Papyri, which were scrolls written in ancient Ptolemaic Greek. It contained the use of black and white in reference to human skin color. In an analysis of the rise of the term, classicist James Dee found that, "the Greeks and Romans do not describe themselves as lenkon genos or albi homines—or as anything else because they had no regular word in their color vocabulary for themselves—and we can see that the concept of a distinct 'white race' was not present in the ancient world."

Assignment of positive and negative connotations of white and black date to the classical period in a number of European languages, but these differences were not applied to skin color per se. although differences in skin color between southern Europeans and Moors were nearly nonexistent and on occasion, religious conversion was described figuratively as a change in skin color.

The term white race or white people entered dictionaries of the major European languages in the 1600s. Winthrop Jordan, author of Black Over White, argues that race emerged with the inherited status of slavery. He says the shift from Christian, free, and English to white happened in approximately 1680. Theodore W. Allen notes in The Invention of the White Race that white identity emerged in the colonies with slavery, and says that "seventeenth-century commentator, Morgan Godwyn, found it necessary to explain to the English at home that, in Barbados, 'white' was 'the general name for Europeans." White quickly became a legal category, encoded in a variety of laws and conferring different status.

In 1758, Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist Carolus Linnaeus divided humankind into four, main races or subspecies loosely based on geographic distribution: Homo sapiens europaeus, the white race; asiaticus, the yellow race; americanus, the red race; and afer (for Africa), the black race, assigning attributes to each of his four categories.

In 1775, Johann Blumenbach categorized humans into five races, which largely corresponded with Linnaeus' classifications, except for the addition of Oceanians (whom he called Malay). Immanuel Kant used the term weiß (white) in Von den verschiedenen Rassen den Menschen (About The Different Races of Men - 1775).

According to Gregory Jay, an English professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,

Before the age of exploration, group differences were largely based on language, religion, and geography. ...the European had always reacted a bit hysterically to the differences of skin color and facial structure between themselves and the populations encountered in Africa, Asia, and the Americas (see, for example, Shakespeare's dramatization of racial conflict in Othello and The Tempest). Beginning in the 1500s, Europeans began to develop what became known as "scientific racism," the attempt to construct a biological rather than cultural definition of race ... Whiteness, then, emerged as what we now call a "pan-ethnic" category, as a way of merging a variety of European ethnic populations into a single "race"...

Within anthropology, a variety of research positions have been staked out regarding the importance and classification of race, with most 19th century positions assuming that races existed, and offering a variety of definitions of white people. Many such definitions, such as those of Earnest Hooton and Carleton S. Coon, classified Middle Easterns, Arabs and Jews, of defined as a "Mediterranean Subrace" as white. However, by the mid-20th century, following the work of Franz Boas and W.E.B. DuBois, a position of the nonexistence of biological equality had reached something approaching a consensus, as symbolized by the UNESCO statement on race in 1950, which included the text: "“Race is less a biological fact than a social myth and as a myth it has in recent years taken a heavy toll in human lives and suffering."

Some scientists think that "much of this discussion does not derive from an objective scientific perspective" and "from both an objective and scientific (genetic and epidemiological) perspective there is great validity in racial/ethnic self-categorizations, both from the research and public policy points of view." and argue for the use of white people/race category in biomedicine (See: Race in biomedicine)

Social and physical perceptions of white

Definitions of white have changed over the years, including the official definitions used in many countries, such as the United States and Brazil. Some defied official regulations through the phenomenon of "passing", many of them becoming white people, either temporarily or permanently. Through the mid- to late 20th century, numerous countries had formal legal standards or procedures defining racial categories (see Limpieza de sangre, Apartheid in South Africa, hypodescent). However, as critiques of racism, scientific arguments against the existence of race, and international prohibitions on state racial discrimination arose, a trend towards self-identification of racial status arose.

Australia

From the late 19th century through 1973, the Government of Australia restricted all permanent immigration to the country by non-Europeans under the White Australia policy, which was enabled by the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, but not formally codified. Immigration inspectors were empowered to ask immigrants to take dictation from any European language as a test for admittance, a test used in practice to exclude people from Asia, South America, Europe and Africa depending on the political climate. Under the policy, large numbers of Portuguese, Italian, Greek, South Slavic, German, Dutch and Polish immigrants were admitted following World War II, assimilating into the country's Anglo-Celtic population. Immigration is no longer restricted to white/European people.

Brazil

Brazil's definition of whiteness is premised on racial mixture rather than hypodescent, producing a range of historical categories for race. As a term, white is more broadly applied than in North America.

Recent censuses in Brazil are conducted on the basis of self-identification. In the 2000 census, 53% of Brazilians (approximately 90 million people in 2000; around 100 million as of 2006) were white and 39% pardo or multiracial Brazilians. White is applied as a term to people of European, Jewish and Arab descent. The census shows a trend of fewer Brazilians of African descent (blacks and pardos) identifying as white people as their social status increases.

Canada

In the results of Statistics Canada's 2001 Canadian Census, white is one category in the population groups data variable, derived from data collected in question 19 (the results of this question are also used to derive the visible minority groups variable).

In the 1995 Employment Equity Act, '"members of visible minorities" means persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour'. In the 2001 Census, persons who marked-in Chinese, South Asian, Black, Filipino, Latin American, Southeast Asian, Arab, West Asian, Japanese or Korean were included in the visible minority population. A separate census question on "cultural or ethnic origin" (question 17) does not refer to skin colour.

Norway

According to the Norwegian Social Science Data Service, white is a possible answer to ethnic/people group category question. After Norwegians, Sami, Kvens and other Nordics, it is mentioned as white/European. Other categories are Asian, Black/African/Caribbean and "other". Statistics Norway considers the Asian category to include Turkish people.

United Kingdom and Ireland

In the UK, the Office for National Statistics uses the term White as an ethnic category. The terms White British, White Irish and White Other are used. White British includes Welsh, English and Scottish peoples, as well as residents of Northern Ireland who identify as British. The category White Other includes all white people not from the British Isles. In the UK white usually refers only to people of European origin.

The term Black Irish does not refer to people with black skin, but instead to hair colour and eye colour. The term White Irish is not used in the UK in contrast with Black Irish; it refers to the ethnically Irish immigrant population in Britain. British surnames such as White, Whitlock, Whited and Whitehead also trace their origins to blond or white hair colour.

United States

David R. Roediger argues that the construction of the white race in the United States was an effort to mentally distance slaveowners from slaves. By the 18th century, white had become well established as a racial term.

The cultural boundaries separating White Americans from other racial or ethnic categories are contested and always changing. Among those not considered white at some time in American history are the Irish, Germans, Ashkenazi Jews, Italians, Spaniards, Slavs, Greeks and other Mediterranean peoples.

The process of officially being defined as white by law often came about in court disputes over pursuit of citizenship. The Immigration Act of 1790 offered naturalization only to "any alien, being a free white person". In at least 52 cases, people denied the status of white by immigration officials sued in court for status as white people. By 1923, courts had vindicated a "common-knowledge" standard, concluding that "scientific evidence" was incoherent. Legal scholar John Tehranian argues that in reality this was a "performance-based" standard, relating to religious practices, education, intermarriage and a community's role in the United States.

The 2000 U.S. census states that racial categories "generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country. They do not conform to any biological, anthropological or genetic criteria." It defines "white people" as "people having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. In U.S. census documents, the designation white or Caucasian overlaps with the term Hispanic, which was introduced in the 1980 census as a category of ethnicity, separate and independent of race. In cases where individuals do not self-identify, the U.S. census parameters for race give each national origin a racial value.

The official definition of race used in the Census and other data collection gives national origin a racial value. This can be problematic for groups such as Middle Eastern Americans, who are not commonly viewed as white and may not identify as white, but are encompassed in the official definition.

Light Skin

White people are archetypically distinguished by lighter skin, and in general, Europeans have lighter skin (as measured by population average skin reflectance read by spectrophotometer) than other ethnic groups. While all mean values of skin reflectance of non-European populations are lower than Europeans, some European and non-European populations overlap in lightness of skin, as noted by the Supreme Court of the United States, which stated in a 1923 lawsuit over whiteness that the " swarthy brunette ... are darker than some of the lighter hued persons of the brown or yellow races" .

Humans have pigment cells, which contain pigment granules called melanosomes. In people of European descent, the melanosomes are fewer, smaller, and lighter than those from people of African ancestry, while the melanosomes of East Asians show intermediate properties.

According to a 2006 study by 10 scientists, lighter pigmentation observed in Europeans and East Asians is due to independent genetic mutations in at least three loci. They concluded that light pigmentation in Europeans is at least partially due to the effects of positive directional and/or sexual selection. According to the study, the results also strongly suggest that Europeans and East Asians have evolved light skin independently and via distinct genetic mechanisms.

People with a light-skin-causing mutation at the gene SLC24A5 apparently proliferated as humans moved northward into what is now Europe, where there is less sunlight available; explaining between 25 and 38% of the European-African difference in skin melanin index.

The advantage of light skin in higher latitudes is that it does not block sunlight as effectively, leading to increased production of vitamin D₃, necessary for calcium absorption and bone growth.

See also

Footnotes

1. White, from Merriam-Webster online.
2. White, from the Compact Oxford English Dictionary.
3. "Referring to races by colors, such as White, Black, and Brown, tends to obscure the fact that skin color and race are not the same." Frank F. Montalvo, "Surviving Race: Skin Color and the Socialization and Acculturation of Latinas," Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 13:3, 2004.
4. For extensive discussion on skin color as a metaphor for race (and not just in encounter with Japan), see Rotem Kowner, "Skin as a Metaphor: Early European Racial Views on Japan, 1548–1853," Ethnohistory 51.4 (2004) 751-778. See also, Christine Ward Gailey Politics, Colonialism and the Mutable Color of South Pacific Peoples," Transforming Anthropology 5.1&2 (1994). On historical antecedents during the European medieval period, see James H. Dee, "Black Odysseus, White Caesar: When Did 'White People' Become 'White,'?" The Classical Journal, Vol. 99, No. 2. (Dec., 2003 - Jan., 2004), p. 162ff.
5. ^ Gregory Jay, , 1998. Cite error: The named reference "GJay" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
6. For extensive discussion on skin color as a metaphor for race (and not just in encounter with Japan), see Rotem Kowner, "Skin as a Metaphor: Early European Racial Views on Japan, 1548–1853," Ethnohistory 51.4 (2004) 751-778. See also, Christine Ward Gailey Politics, Colonialism and the Mutable Color of South Pacific Peoples," Transforming Anthropology 5.1&2 (1994).
7. ^ Adams, J.Q. (2001). Dealing with Diversity. Chicago, IL: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. 0-7872-8145-X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
8. Thompson, William (2005). Society in Focus. Boston, MA: Pearson. 0-205-41365-X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
9. James H. Dee, "Black Odysseus, White Caesar: When Did 'White People' Become 'White,'?" The Classical Journal, Vol. 99, No. 2. (Dec., 2003 - Jan., 2004), p. 162.
10. Alan Cameron, Black and White: A Note on Ancient Nicknames, The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 119, No. 1 (Spring, 1998), pp. 113-117
11. James H. Dee, "Black Odysseus, White Caesar: When Did 'White People' Become 'White,'?" The Classical Journal, Vol. 99, No. 2. (Dec., 2003 - Jan., 2004), p. 163.
12. James H. Dee, "Black Odysseus, White Caesar: When Did 'White People' Become 'White,'?" The Classical Journal, Vol. 99, No. 2. (Dec., 2003 - Jan., 2004), p. 164.
13. James H. Dee, "Black Odysseus, White Caesar: When Did 'White People' Become 'White,'?" The Classical Journal, Vol. 99, No. 2. (Dec., 2003 - Jan., 2004), p. 164.
14. Winthrop D. Jordan, The White Man's Burden, (condensed version of Black Over White), 1974, p. 52.
15. http://clogic.eserver.org/1-2/allen.html
16. Gould, Stephen J. "The Geometer of Race." Discover Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 11. November 1994. Retrieved 02-17-2007.
17. Akintunde, Omowale. "White racism, white supremacy, white privilege, & the social construction of race: Moving from modernist to postmodernist multiculturalism." Multicultural Education, Winter, 1999. Retrieved 02-17-2007.
18. Cite error: The named reference nature1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
19. E.A. Hooton, Up from the Ape, 1946. Carleton S. Coon, The Story of the Middle East, 1958.
21. Cite error: The named reference risch1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
22. Immigration Restriction Act 1901
23. Stephen Castles, "The Australian Model of Immigration and Multiculturalism: Is It Applicable to Europe?," International Migration Review, Vol. 26, No. 2, Special Issue: The New Europe and International Migration. (Summer, 1992), pp. 549-567.
24. Gregory Rodriguez, "Brazil Separates Into Black and White," LA Times, September 3, 2006. Note that the figures belie the title.
25. "Groups" in Statistics Canada, Sample 20001 Census form. Statistics Canada, 2001 Census Visible Minority and Population Group User Guide
26. Human Resources and Social Development Canada,
27. Census 2001: 2B (Long Form)
28. http://www.nsd.uib.no/data/ny_individ/norStudy/norVariable.cfm?norVarID=7989
29. http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/02/01/10/innvbef_en/
30. Identity, Ethnicity and Identity, National Statistics online. Retrieved 03 November 2006.
31. Census 2001 - Ethnicity and religion in England and Wales, Ethnicity and religion. Retrieved 03 November 2001.
32. Kissoon, Priya. King's College of London. Asylum Seekers: National Problem or National Solution. 2005. November 7, 2006.
33. http://www.cre.gov.uk/diversity/ethnicity/whiteirish.html
34. http://mizian.com.ne.kr/englishwiz/library/names/etymology_of_last_names.htm
35. Roediger, Wages of Whiteness, 186; Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War (New York, 1998).
36. John Tehranian, "Performing Whiteness: Naturalization Litigation and the Construction of Racial Identity in America," The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 109, No. 4. (Jan., 2000), pp. 825-827.
37. John Tehranian, "Performing Whiteness: Naturalization Litigation and the Construction of Racial Identity in America," The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 109, No. 4. (Jan., 2000), pp. 817-848.
38. Questions and Answers for Census 2000 Data on Race from U.S. Census Bureau, 14 March 2001. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
39. http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-4.pdf The White Population: 2000]}}, Census 2000 Brief C2KBR/01-4, U.S. Census Bureau, August 2001.
40. Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin 2000 U.S. Census Bureau
41. Jablonski NG, Chaplin G. 2000. The evolution of skin coloration, p. 19.
42. American Anthropological Association, "The Human Spectrum", Race: Are we so different? website.
43. John Tehranian, "Performing Whiteness: Naturalization Litigation and the Construction of Racial Identity in America," The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 109, No. 4. (Jan., 2000), p. 827.
44. Fish gene sheds light on human skin color variation
45. Heather L. Norton, Rick A. Kittles, Esteban Parra, Paul McKeigue, Xianyun Mao, Keith Cheng, Victor A. Canfield, Daniel G. Bradley, Brian McEvoy and Mark D. Shriver (December 11, 2006) Genetic Evidence for the Convergent Evolution of Light Skin in Europeans and East Asians Oxford Journals
46. Lamason RL, Mohideen MA, Mest JR, Wong AC, Norton HL, Aros MC, Jurynec MJ, Mao X, Humphreville VR, Humbert JE, Sinha S, Moore JL, Jagadeeswaran P, Zhao W, Ning G, Makalowska I, McKeigue PM, O'donnell D, Kittles R, Parra EJ, Mangini NJ, Grunwald DJ, Shriver MD, Canfield VA, Cheng KC (2005). "SLC24A5, a putative cation exchanger, affects pigmentation in zebrafish and humans". Science. 310 (5755): 1782–6. PMID 16357253.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
47. Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin, Washington Post
48. Wasserman, R H, M E Brindak, S A Meyer, and C S Fullmer, "Evidence for multiple effects of vitamin D3 on calcium absorption: response of rachitic chicks, with or without partial vitamin D3 repletion, to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3", http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=347465, December 1982

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External links

• Legally white Precedents of legal opinions and judgments authored by US courts in whiteness cases filed by non-Europeans
• Not Quite White: Race Classification and the Arab American Experience, by the Arab American Institute
• Scientists Find DNA Change That Accounts for White Skin
• "Separated by a Common Language: The Strange Case of the White Hispanic by Alfredo Tryferis

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• Race
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