56 pages • 1 hour read
George LipsitzThe Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Consider the pathway of neoliberalism and its effects on disenfranchised Americans. How does neoliberalism as an ideology correspond to possessive investment in whiteness in terms of visibility and intentionality?
What role did white masculinity have in the surge of the new patriotism of the Reagan years? Discuss the fictive visions of masculine patriarchy that Lipsitz portrays. How do cultural tropes distract from the underlying structures that preserve the possessive investment in whiteness?
What does Lipsitz mean by “sadism in search of a story” (82)?
