The Gratifications of Whiteness

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W.E.B. Du Bois argued that whiteness in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century America served as a 'public and psychological wage,' providing social standing to even the poorest whites. This 'compensation,' reliant on the devaluation of Black existence, reinforced the U.S. capitalist system and hindered interracial class solidarity. While Du Bois's account of compensatory whiteness is influential, it is also incomplete. He viewed whiteness not as a singular entity but as multifaceted. Focusing on his middle-period work (1920-1940), Ella Myers reveals a complex analysis that theorizes whiteness as a source of varied gratifications. These include not only the status rewards of racial capitalism but also the enjoyment derived from gratuitous Black suffering and the belief that the planet belongs to those identified as 'white.' Myers argues that Du Bois's insights, shaped by the political challenges of his time, remain relevant to contemporary struggles for racial justice. Recognizing how anti-Blackness underpins diverse and troubling forms of white gratification today is crucial for understanding the persistence of America's unequal racial order and highlights the need for creative, multifaceted resistance strategies to combat it.