The concept of ‘the possessive investment in whiteness’ refers to the psychological, social, economic and political benefits that come with being identified as white in a society organized around racial hierarchy and white supremacy. This idea was developed by legal scholar Cheryl Harris in her influential 1993 article, in which she argues that whiteness itself has taken on value as a form of intangible property. By investing in whiteness, white people gain access to resources, power and opportunity. At the same time, people of color are denied access to these benefits. This possessive investment causes white people to defend their unearned advantages against perceived threats. Understanding the complex dynamics around whiteness can help shed light on persistent racial inequality.
Whiteness confers tangible advantages and privileges
In a racialized society, there are clear material benefits to being seen and treated as white. Whites have historically had greater access to well-paying jobs, home ownership, high-quality schools, and other resources. For example, discriminatory housing policies like redlining systematically denied home loans to Black families while facilitating white suburbanization. Educational tracking policies also steered white students into advanced classes while relegating students of color to lower tracks. The legacy of accumulated intergenerational wealth among white families – built through home ownership, access to credit, higher education and more – persists to this day. However, these advantages remain largely invisible to many white people.
Whiteness shapes habits, behaviors and outlooks
The privileges afforded to white people shape not just material outcomes, but also habits, behaviors, outlooks and norms. For instance, the ability to live and travel freely, without fear of discrimination or racial profiling, becomes an unexamined expectation. Cultural norms and standards, from beauty ideals to behavioral norms, are defined around whiteness. This creates advantages in how white people navigate society and its institutions. However, white people are often unaware of these learned advantages in outlook and experience.
Whiteness has psychological value and shapes identity
Beyond material and social advantages, identifying with whiteness also shapes people’s self-perceptions and identity in psychological ways. It enables an unracialized identity, the privilege not to think about one’s race. Whiteness is normative, described as Being just human rather than a racial category. In this way, investing in whiteness shapes white people’s fundamental sense of self and personhood. It allows racial privilege without guilt or complexity. Of course, the flip side is that people of color are made to feel abnormal, marked by race and marginalized.
Investment in whiteness perpetuates the racial order
This possessive investment in whiteness causes white people to defend racial advantages against perceived threats, and to resist change to the racial status quo. For instance, exclusionary zoning policies preserved all-white neighborhoods against integration. Today, challenges to affirmative action or diverse school enrollments are often seen as threatening to whites. This investment in whiteness reinforces systemic racism, even when white individuals do not consciously intend to be racist. Dismantling the possessive investment requires acknowledging unearned advantage and being willing to abandon norms, behaviors and outlooks that perpetuate racial inequality.
A color-conscious stance is needed to fight investment in whiteness
In order to dismantle the possessive investment in whiteness, colorblind ideologies must be rejected in favor of race-consciousness. Individuals must become aware of white advantage and cultural norms of whiteness. Institutions must dismantle policies and practices that favor whites. And disadvantaged groups must be empowered to call out inequities, rather than tokenized. This threathens the possessive investment by removing the benefits of whiteness. Only through color-consciousness can we achieve greater equity.
The possessive investment in whiteness confers psychological, social and material advantage to white people in a society shaped by racism. Challenging this investment requires awareness of unearned privilege, willingness to abandon white-normed behaviors and outlooks, and color-conscious policies.