Culture and Whiteness: Why White Culture Does Not Exist
Shawn St Peter • October 20, 2021
When you search the Internet for information about White Culture, you get lots of results that tell you what it isn't, but not what it actually is. As an American born and raised in this country, and as someone who considers themselves to be white, I feel like I should take this opportunity to talk about the parts of my culture that are representative of who I am as a person. So, what is White Culture? As we get ready for this month’s Big Idea podcast, lets have an honest discussion about that here at Twisted Logic.
What is Culture?
This topic came out of our discussion on September 30th about the video that surfaced of a confrontation in the ASU multicultural center. The females in that video told the two white males that there is no white culture, and I asked Ras, with his background in anthropology, to define culture. He stated, and I’m paraphrasing from memory, it’s essentially any non-biological marker that identifies a group. This could be positive or negative, but if it is a shared, non-biological trait by a connected group, then that is a cultural marker, and if there are cultural markers, the there is a shared culture of that group.
For me, this is problematic on many levels. First is the vagueness of it. By its nature, this definition is all encompassing, and in being so, it brings together “groups” with their collective traits and regardless of the connectivity of those groups. Second, it doesn’t capture the idea of culture that most anthropologists recognize.
And this gets to the root of our first problem – defining culture. It’s one of those terms that has so many meanings, even its definition isn’t clear-cut. It’s generally defined as encompassing what people do, think, feel, believe, and value, both consciously and unconsciously. More specifically, when we talk about culture, we’re referring to what a group of people share in common.
The earliest definition of culture within anthropology was made by 19th-century British anthropologist Edward Tylor: “Culture…is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Tylor 1920 [1871]: 1). While this definition has been challenged many times, it continues to be one of the most widely used in anthropology today. And while culture was a concept developed by anthropology, it has evolved into a more broadly used term, with a more universal definition.
In other social science disciplines, we see slightly different definitions. For example, the American Sociological Association defines culture as: “The languages, customs, beliefs, rules, arts, knowledge, and collective identities and memories developed by members of all social groups that make their social environments meaningful.” The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition at the University of Minnesota states that “culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization. These shared patterns identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.”
The bastion of internet knowledge, Wikipedia, has chosen Tylor’s definition, but goes on to state “Humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization, which is shown by the diversity of cultures across societies;” and “A cultural norm codifies acceptable conduct in society; it serves as a guideline for behavior, dress, language, and demeanor in a situation, which serves as a template for expectations in a social group.” These are helpful in understanding the totality of the concept of culture.
Perhaps the best definition I found of culture was at LumenLearning.com, in their course on cultural anthropology:
“A general definition of culture that can be applied to all cultures is patterns of behavior that are common within a particular population of people. One way to think about culture is to break down the concept into two distinct categories: the Big C and the little c. The Big C is an overarching general concept that can be applied to all culture groups; it is the anthropological perspective. The little c is the particulars of a specific culture group.”
I like this because it differentiates between the concept of culture in as a general term, and culture as a trait belonging to cultural groups. It goes on to define the Big C with five distinct and measurable characteristics:
“It is easiest to think of the Big C as elements that comprise culture (not a specific group).
- Big C is learned behavior. Culture is not something we are born with; it is non-biological. We learn it over our lifetime.
- Culture is shared. While we each have our own cultural peculiarities, we share a large part of our culture with others.
- Culture is symbolic. It gives meaning to things. Language might be the most important example of the symbolic nature of culture. Language is one of the primary ways that we communicate with one another.
- Culture is holistic. Ideally, culture is all encompassing. It is a blueprint for living and tells us how to respond in any given situation. Of course, in reality, culture doesn’t give us all the answers. That’s when we see culture change.
- Lastly, culture is integrated. Think of it as a clock. Clocks have an intricate mechanical system that work together to make the clock operational. Culture is also a system – a system of institutions that work together to meet the needs of the group.”
What strikes me about this, is that it provides a test of what culture is and allows us to look at different groups to determine if they have a culture. Take the group that is Ny and NJ Italian Americans. They have a very distinct learned culture, that is shared. It definitely is symbolic, and you can check out this funny or die clip
for a great example. If you’ve ever watched the Sopranos, or the Godfather, The Real Housewives, or even the Jersey Shore, you understand just how holistic it is. And it is integrated, it’s how the group operates together.
White Culture Doesn’t Exist
With such a long way to define the term culture, it no wonder the question arises about “white culture”. It is so difficult to define culture, so of course it would be difficult to determine if there is such thing as white culture.
Added to this is the insinuation that stating that there is no “white culture”, implies that white Americans have no culture. But this is not at all what is being argued. In fact, it is that white Americans have so many other cultures that they associate with that in and of itself makes the argument that there is no single white culture. People come to America for different reasons, with different customs, beliefs, religions, attitudes, priorities, work ethic... you name it. And what makes America particularly unique, and great, is that so many of today’s white Americans are descended from these immigrants, and their cultures combine with other non-white cultures, creating a hybrid. Today, you can be British and American at once; German and Mexican; Russian and Cuban; Polish and Puerto Rican. There really isn’t such a thing as a homogenous white culture anymore in modern America. We may speak of Irish-American or Polish-American culture, but what we’re really referring to are specific ethnic groups with a long history in America. White Americans have no such identity. In reality, they—we—are a conglomeration of ethnicities brought together by a common language and a shared vision for our future.
The video clip I posted above is such a great representation of this. Everyone in that clip is white, and very much American. But they identify with their Italian heritage, and the culture that has developed from Italians that have migrated to the NY/NJ area of America. It is a rich a vibrant culture – one that they should be very proud of. But, while much of that culture is white (without getting into the racial differences from northern to southern Italy, and Sicily), it is not the unifying feature of their culture. And it is not something that connects it to other white cultures, such as Irish Americans, who have a very different culture in the US, and in fact, have a different culture in different parts of the US, much like all ethnic groups who emigrated here.
Why Does White Culture Not Exist?
It’s actually very simple. White culture does not exist in America. It does not because we don’t see white people as a whole. So, when you say white culture, what are you referring to? Are you talking about some sort of idea that just naturally springs up inside all whites? As if they are born into existence having memorized all of these things that makes them culturally white? No. There is no such thing. No one grows up knowing anything specific about being white other than stereotypes, for example being good at swimming or eating certain foods or whatever else comes to mind with these ideas about whites. But those aren’t part of any sort of culture; those are stereotypes. And those aren’t traits everyone shares.
The topic of white culture has been widely debated, with some arguing that whites simply don’t have a common culture to share. In any other nation but ours, those who identify as white would have a very clear culture from which they can draw influence. We do not have a separate history or narrative or ancestry that separates us from any other group of people living in our country—we simply do not have a separate identity from them. Part of the blame for white culture not existing, at least not as its own distinct entity, can be laid at America’s feet. Despite what many people think, race was never created by ethnicity; rather, race developed as a means to categorize enslaved Africans based on how fit they were for plantation labor. Later on, Irish immigrants who were considered too frail to work became white. Even today our concept of race stems more from physical attributes like skin color than any cultural ties. This isn’t to say there aren’t common traits among people with European ancestry—there absolutely are—but those things haven’t contributed to creating an entirely separate sub-culture known as white culture. The problem here lies with identity; most white people consider themselves individuals, not representatives of their race.
The purpose of White culture is to make people feel guilty about being white. There are no books or movies on white culture, because there are no white people who have a single dominant culture that all other white people adhere to. There are Irish Americans, German Americans, Russian Americans, African American's etc. People don't lump us together as just being white. Instead, we have their own identities that set them apart from each other even though they may be all technically considered white. If you think about it logically, there can be no such thing as a singular white culture since so many different cultures were absorbed by those who migrated to what became known as America.
The problem with arguing whether white culture exists is that you're assuming that white means something. However, just like any other culture, there are no hard-and-fast rules about what does or does not constitute white culture—it's purely a social construct. There's really nothing stopping someone from calling themselves (or their group) white without anyone to stop them; if anything, everyone else would disagree with them. Also consider that people identify as white based on nationality more than race. Most of our concepts of race emerged long after these cultures were already set in stone; they aren't inherent parts of whiteness, but rather traits associated with European nations during colonial times. If you can be Irish and African at once, then where do you draw your line? Do only Scandinavians qualify? What about Italians? Portuguese? Spanish? What distinguishes these groups from non-whites within Europe?
The idea of white culture being somehow unique or different from American culture more broadly comes from a logical fallacy known as essentialism. This occurs when people treat groups or categories of things as if they had real essences that made them what they are. For example, white people becomes a category that becomes synonymous with American. Though many may see difference between these two things, there's no actual rational reason to do so. Essentialist views have no basis in logic because there's no way to make any meaningful definition for them; one person might say something like, they're more religious, while another says, they're smarter, yet another might say, they care less about family, etc.
Coming back to our definition of culture then, we can also use this as a test of white culture:
Is there a learned white culture? Sociologist Erik Olin Wright argues that what we consider white culture is not learned behavior, but rather cultural capital. This cultural capital is acquired through access to education, family connections and economic resources.
- Is there a shared white culture? No. People living in countries colonized by European governments have adopted many western customs and traditions. But beyond these practices, cultural norms differ among white people living in different regions.
- Is white culture symbolic? Unsurprisingly, there are no symbols that are explicitly associated with White culture. You may see some people wearing t-shirts with white power symbols on them. But these are not symbols of White culture—these are symbols of racism. The same goes for any other skinhead or neo-Nazi t-shirt you may see people wearing, or any confederate flag t-shirt you might see someone wearing.
- Is white culture holistic? Can white culture be understood as holistic -- not separate from other areas of life. This means that to exist at all, white culture must permeate everything. And it doesn’t.
- Is white culture integrated? White culture represents a variety of ethnic cultures, each with unique traditions and values. Furthermore, most Americans describe themselves as having multiple cultural identities. And often, as we saw with in the video above, it is the ethnic culture they identify with that is integrated into their life.
***
Our culture is constantly evolving. Perhaps, once upon a time, there was a white culture that revolved around being proud of being white. But today, if you were to create a character for a movie or TV show who solely identified as white and acted in ways that are considered stereotypically white, you would find yourself vilified. The idea of white culture is simply another way for white people to cling to their supposed victimhood while simultaneously dehumanizing minorities. If there's no such thing as white culture, it means all cultures are unique and individualized. At best, cultures borrow ideas from each other; at worst, they repress or oppress each other. Ultimately though, it means we must look at each person as an individual. We can’t group them by race and confuse it with culture. Acknowledge how being white has molded them into who they are, but not allow it to be something that defines them. They aren't white. They're themselves - with likes, dislikes, hopes, dreams - just like everyone else. White culture does not exist because white people do not exist—to say otherwise is to downplay our individuality and turn us into nothing more than an afterthought.
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Note – this article was written by ChatGPT. I asked it to write an explainer post for my website in the style of Malcolm Gladwell. As part of this week’s podcast, I had ChatGPT co-produce it with me. It came up with script suggestions. I asked it to help me write an explainer companion post for the website. I did not really like the first one it wrote, and so I tried asking for different types of articles, asking for a particular style(witty, snarky, etc) or well know writers (Bill Simmons, Malcolm Gladwell). The below is the one by Gladwell, which I liked the best.
I have made no edits.
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