The Conversation We Need to Have

White Americans and the loss of social status

In a recent episode of PBS Newshour, Judy Woodruff interviewed Dr. Ted Johnson. Johnson is a retired Navy commander, senior adviser at the center-left think tank New America, and columnist at the Washington Post. Johnson writes on issues of race and politics.

Woodruff asked Johnson to explain how white Americans are currently responding to our nation’s social and demographic changes. I linked to that segment here:

I liked Johnson’s comments. It is a three-part argument:

1. Many White Americans have a narrative about themselves: they are the descendants of people who built a great country. In other words, White Americans see themselves at the center of the American story.

2. Non-white people are now asserting that they were also a part of building that country. Along with the push to be a part of the national narrative, non-white people are also gaining positions of authority and influence that were once the reserve of White Americans. In other words, White Americans are being decentered.

3. This decentering is felt as a status loss. Johnson predicts that White Americans will act to maintain that status. Although he didn’t say as much, January 6th may have been an instance of this.

Theodore (Ted) R. Johnson is a senior advisor, providing counsel on policy and strategy to the Executive Office, and leading New America’s flagship US@250 initiative. Johnson's research explores the role that race plays in electoral politics and its influence on the national narrative and the American identity.

On status

I like his use of the term status. If you look up the definition of the word status, you will see something along the lines of: “the relative social, professional, or other standing of someone or something.”

This is, I am sure, the way Johnson is using the term. He is arguing that the standing of White Americans, relative to other racial groups, has declined.

Sociologists also use the term status. In my view, it is one of the more essential concepts in the discipline. How we interact with people largely depends on their statuses - woman, doctor, veteran, queer, black, northerner, Republican, etc.

We like to think we treat people the same. In a legal sense, we usually do.

But not when we interact with people socially. The process of social interaction begins with taking in as much information about a person as possible through observation or direct communication. It is a subconscious "who is this dude?” Once we have some actionable information about the person, then we think about - again subconsciously, what society has taught us about this set of statuses. This is socialization at work. We then take this information and communicate with the person before us.

An excellent way to know what statuses you believe you have is to complete this sentence about ten times:

“I am a (an)….”

When I have done this in my class, I tell my students that the first items listed are the statuses most integral to their identity (another core sociological concept I will explore at another time).

A standard sociological definition of status can be:

People’s standing in society, based on the esteem or prestige in which individuals or groups are held by other members of society.

Again, we see the notion of standing. A layman’s and a sociologist’s understanding of status hinges upon hierarchy. Some statuses, in a social sense, are above others.

But the sociological definition includes two other terms of note - esteem, and prestige.

Both terms tap into the idea that there is an association between one’s status and how one is treated. People of high status are given deference, or at the least seen positively. By contrast, people of low status are stigmatized or, at the least, seen negatively.

Imagine being a poor, gay, Hispanic woman in 1960s America. None of those statuses would hold high esteem and prestige. This is not to suggest that people would be a jerk toward a poor, gay, Hispanic woman - although many would. It means that compared to a straight white Anglo man, fewer people would see this person’s values, beliefs, and lifestyle as something to emulate. No one wants to be like that person. Indeed, they may subtly distance themselves from that person. They will be reluctant to accept that person’s advice or have them in a leadership role.

The poor, gay, Hispanic woman in 1960 possessed a set of statuses that were low in esteem and prestige.

Some White Americans feel that the status of “white” is losing esteem and prestige.

When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression

During the East Palestine train derailment debacle, where toxic gas enveloped the small Ohio town, right-wing activist Charlie Kirk called the Biden administration’s slow response proof that there is a “war on white people.”

While some affordances have to be given to Kirk - he is of the Matt Walsh/Steven Crowder mold of the modern media personality who gains monetarily from mining culture war issues - I believe his hyperbolic rhetoric will resonate more and more with working-class white people.

Charlie Kirk. Image from The Daily Beast

There is little evidence that our government is at war with White people. Given that our government is composed chiefly of White people, it would be odd for it to wage war on itself. But it will feel that way to many White Americans because status is understood in relative terms.

Think of it this way.

Imagine two siblings close in age. One has grown up and become an accomplished neurosurgeon. The other is a cashier at Best Buy. Now let’s assume both are similar in other ways - they started loving families, and they have interesting hobbies. I suspect that the neurosurgeon is afforded a little more esteem at family gatherings. They are asked for their opinions more. Their jokes are laughed at a little more often - even if they aren’t amusing. They garner more attention when they talk about things at the dinner table.

Now imagine if the parents of these two siblings, at this point empty nesters reflecting on their parenting, became aware of how differently they have been treating their offspring. They become aware that a routine has been set in the family going back years, where whenever the family got together during the holidays, the focus of the conversation always revolves around the latest ER/House/Grey’s Anatomy-like hospital story from the neurosurgeon sibling. Or maybe they notice they have more pictures of their neurosurgeon child on display in their home.

They want to right some of these wrongs. So they commit to investing more time in the long-neglected sibling. Maybe they deliberately shift the conversation away from the neurosurgeon during family get-togethers or place more pictures of that child and their family on their wall. Maybe when they go on road trips, they stop through and see the neglected sibling and satisfy themselves by just calling the neurosurgeon.

This change may be felt as a loss by the neurosurgeon - even though what has happened in reality is that now both siblings are being treated more equally.

This brings to mind the quote attributed to film and television producer Franklin Leonard: “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.”

A conversation we need to have

These phenomena may all be felt like a loss of status for many White Americans, and even oppression:

• The platforming of people of color in our institutions - for example, Biden’s desire to appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court, or the push to teach history from the perspective of people of color

• The tendency to make a white man the punchline in comedies and commercials (yes, we’ve all seen it)

• The seeming double standard of the n-word and other racial slurs being verboten, while slurs aimed at white people - “cracker” - are said with impunity

• The proliferation of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs in colleges and corporations that seem only ever to be a means of catering to people of color at the expense of White people

We have to talk about these phenomena.

If I may return to the sibling analogy, the way to prevent the neurosurgeon from feeling as if they are suddenly being mistreated is for those parents to have an honest and open conversation with both siblings. And when the neurosurgeon objects to these changes (and why wouldn’t they? Their ER/House/Grey’s Anatomy-like hospital stories are bound to be interesting), the parents shouldn’t browbeat that sibling into compliance. The parents need to explain that they simply want to make sure that they involve themselves in the lives of all their siblings.

Ultimately, they could reason they are a family, and when everyone feels included, they can better work towards their goals. A little less attention during holidays is a small price to pay for that.

Major media outlets like Fox News and CNN must start broaching the subject of status loss amongst White Americans. It is a conversation we need to have. And it needs to be done in a way that seeks consilience, not conflict, and respects the need to maintain dignity amongst White folks, not dismissing them as privileged at best and racist at worst.

I am not optimistic that our major media outlets will help. It is in Fox News’ best interest to push the “war on white people” frame, and it is in CNN’s best interest to push the “white people want to maintain their privilege, and oh, they may be racist too” frame.

But those frames are not in the nation’s best interest.

And so I am doing my small part by putting the idea out there. We need to have a national conversation about White Americans and their loss of status in this country.