1st Edition
Gratuitous Angst in White America A Theory of Whiteness and Crime
Gratuitous Angst in White America presents a new criminological theory that explains the racialized experiences of white people. Unlike orthodox traditions that assume whiteness as normative or progressive traditions that center the experiences of the marginalized and oppressed, the theory of whiteness and crime flips those perspectives and turns a lens toward white people’s lived experiences and the ideologies of whiteness. The theory of whiteness and crime answers two overarching questions: How does being white impact one’s likelihood of engaging in deviant, criminal, and/or violent behaviors? And, why are white people treated differently than other racial and ethnic groups by the criminal legal system? Through the application of a critical whiteness perspective to criminology, the theory of whiteness and crime is an intersectional and integrated framework that explains within (and between) group differences in negative behaviors and entanglements with the criminal legal system.
This book examines the racialized history of America to contextualize the current racial strife in society and inform a more nuanced theoretical approach to explaining disparities. The reader will gain a socio-historical understanding of the depths of the current divides and insight into how such are perpetuated and potentially dismantled. Students will see connections between various theoretical traditions and an application of theory to current social conditions. Researchers will acquire a new theoretical foundation and propositions to ground empirical work that will fill extensive gaps in the criminological literature. And policy makers will see how oversights in understanding the depths of historical significance perpetuate and increase disparities and disadvantages, which are counter to a pursuit of justice.
Written in a compelling and direct way, this book will appeal to those in criminology, sociology, race and ethnic studies, gender and sexuality studies, political science, cultural studies, psychology, criminal justice, law, and beyond. Gratuitous Angst in White America is essential for those seeking a more complete understanding of the associations between race and crime and those who want to remedy those disparities. In the end, it is more than a new theory of crime, it is a call to action for all willing to hear.
List of Figures
Series Editor’s Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Removing the Cloak of Whiteness
1 Over a Decade of Turmoil Within a History of Strife
2 Status Dissonance and White American Offending
3 Habitus Angst and White American Offending
4 Aggrieved Entitlement and White American Offending
5 The Protection of Privilege and White Americans’ Criminal Legal Entanglement
6 A New Racialized Theory of Whiteness and Crime
7 Uneven Intersections
8 Making the Invisible Visible
Biography
Deena A. Isom is an Associate Professor of African American Studies and Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina. Her research aims to bring marginalized voices and lived experiences center to the understandings of the causes and consequences of negative and harmful behaviors and entanglement with the criminal legal system through the advancement of criminological theory, critical perspectives, and intersectional methodologies. Her work has appeared in numerous outlets such as the Race and Justice, Feminist Criminology, Critical Sociology, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Social Science & Medicine, and Youth & Society. She is a University of South Carolina McCausland Fellow and Garnet Apple Award recipient as well as an Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Minorities and Women Section’s Becky Tatum Excellence in Scholarship Awardee.
"At the right time, Isom’s work delivers a rich socio-historic critique of the political shifts that we are witnessing today. Gratuitous Angst in White America is relevant, unapologetically brave, historically grounded, and feisty in its analysis and that is needed now more than ever."
Dr. Zoe Spencer, Emmy Award Winning Poet, Author, and Scholar
"This book fills a major gap in the literature by examining the role that whiteness, particularly white privilege and the myth of white supremacy, plays in explaining crime among whites. It is notable for the background information it provides, the many literatures on which it draws, the intersectional approach it takes, and its description of the mechanisms by which whiteness causes crime. The book will stimulate much debate and research, taking criminology in a much needed direction."
Dr. Robert Agnew, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, Emory University
"By offering an innovative analysis of white people’s privileged pathways to crime and their privileged exemption from the purview of criminal law, Deena Isom makes one of the most important contributions to a critical criminological understanding of the complex relationship between race/ethnicity, crime, and social control in this current era. It is a tour de force, one that will undoubtedly become a classic piece of intersectionality scholarship. Theoretically sophisticated, Isom’s path-breaking offering is a must-read for scholars, activists, practitioners, policymakers, and students seeking a timely, progressive, and un-varnished focus on race, justice, and inequality."
Dr. Walter S. DeKeseredy, Anna Deane Carlson Endowed Chair of Social Sciences, Director of the Research Center on Violence, and Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University
"In this book, Dr. Deena Isom has trained her analytical sights upon troubling questions about racial justice. With an unflinching scholarly candor, she asks how it is possible to harness the explanatory lenses and tools of feminist intersectionality theory and critical race theory (among other frameworks) so to understand why the early 21st century witnessed the re-emergence of white nationalist/supremacist rationales for a more punitive American criminal justice system. Readers will be impressed with the breadth of the events and scholarly literature Dr. Isom includes in her cogent argument as to how white racial angst is at the heart of contemporary racist rhetoric, ideals, and policies."
Dr. Todd Shaw, Distinguished Associate Professor of Political Science and African American Studies, University of South Carolina
