Table Of ContentGot Solidarity?
The 21st century in the United States continues to be marked by persistent dis-
parities between members of different classes, races, genders, and sexual orienta-
tions. Influencers of this society seem bent on polarizing citizens along their
diverse identities, often blaming those already disadvantaged for the nation’s
apparent plights. Elite white men still benefit from a political, economic, and
social hegemony, and some ardently resist an egalitarian society. Preserving
Amer ican democracy rests in the hands of young Amer icans committed to equity
and social justice.
In Got Solidarity?, Jörg Vianden reports the results from the Straight
White College Men Project, a nationwide qualitative study of how heterosexual
white college men experience or perceive campus and community diversity
issues. In college, few white men tend to engage in majors, discussions, or courses
on diversity, inclusion, equity, or social justice. Indeed, many white men say that
they have “no place” in these discussions, and more commonly assert that “diver-
sity is not about them.” Using a sociological perspective, the author chronicles
their upbringing in families and schools, their perspectives on race, gender, and
sexual orientation, as well as their trepidations on challenging oppression they
notice taking place around them. Their stories lead to a renewed understanding
of how white disengagement constrains progress toward a just society. This book
offers strategies for enhancing college teaching and learning, adds to the body of
research on identity development theory, and provides implications for improv-
ing campus climates, fostering social justice advocacy, as well as re-d esigning pro-
grams promoting understanding of human differences.
Written especially for straight white male college students, as well as for edu-
cators at all levels, this book underscores the critical need for whites to raise con-
sciousness, activate empathy, and build solidarity with members of minoritized
social groups. Given the current Ameri can predicament, Got Solidarity? makes a
timely contribution to our understanding of masculinity and endeavors to create
a just society.
Dr. Jörg Vianden is Professor and Chair of the Department of Student Affairs
Administration in Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Originally from Germany, he has lived in the United States for 25 years and
received his doctorate from Indiana University. Vianden’s scholarship focuses on
men and masculinities as well as social justice issues in higher education. His
research has been published in several national and international journals.
New Critical Viewpoints on Society Series
Edited by Joe R. Feagin
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Comprehensive Organizational Learning Strategies
Edna B. Chun and Alvin Evans
Killing African Amer icans
Police and Vigilante Violence as a Racial Control Mechanism
Noel A. Cazenave
When Rape was Legal
The Untold History of Sexual Violence During Slavery
Rachel A. Feinstein
Latino Peoples in the New America
Racialization and Resistance
Edited by José A. Cobas, Joe R. Feagin, Daniel J. Delgado and Maria Chávez
Women and Inequality in the 21st Century
Edited by Brittany C. Slatton and Carla D. Brailey
Rethinking Diversity Frameworks in Higher Education
Edna B. Chun and Joe R. Feagin
Love Under the Skin
Interracial Marriages in the Ameri can South and France
Cécile Coquet- Mokoko
Got Solidarity?
Challenging Straight White College Men to Advocate for Social Justice
Jörg Vianden
For more information about this series, please visit www.routledge.com/
New- Critical-Viewpoints- on-Society/book- series/NCVS
Got Solidarity?
Challenging Straight White College
Men to Advocate for Social Justice
Jörg Vianden
First published 2020
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 Taylor & Francis
The right of Jörg Vianden to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
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registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested.
ISBN: 978-1-138-65481-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-65483-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-62299-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne & Wear
Für meine Familie.
Contents
Preface viii
Acknowledgments x
1 Building Solidarity and Challenging Social Justice
Advocacy in Straight White College Men 1
2 Growing up White and Male: Learning about Diversity
in Communities, Schools, and Families 22
3 What’s in it for Me? Defining, Experiencing, and
Considering Engaging in Diversity in College 52
4 White is Norm: Acknowledging Privilege, Power, and
Oppression on Campus 93
5 It’s Hard to Speak Up: Challenging Racism, Sexism,
and Homophobia 121
6 What’s my Responsibility? Strategies to Engage Straight
White College Men in Social Justice 147
Appendix A – Research Sites 180
Appendix B – Sample Demographic Information 181
References 182
Index 199
Preface
As the United States nears the end of the first two decades of the 21st
century, partisan politicians have sharply divided Amer icans along racial,
ethnic, class, gender, religious, and sexual orientation lines. While wealth and
income gaps between the haves and the have nots hover at record highs,
populist rulers blame already disadvantaged citizens and immigrants for the
apparent perils of the nation. Not visible are the leaders’ attempts to take
responsibility for their own shortcomings or to advocate for equity among all
Amer icans. As we’re ensnared in this social predicament, elite straight white
men continue to benefit from vast social capital, exorbitant economic worth,
and enormous decision-m aking power. Not all but many of them are also
most indifferent or offensive when it comes to issues of diversity or social
justice. They either leave the educating or dissenting up to citizens who are
already marginalized, or they do much of the blaming themselves. In so
doing, they carelessly ignore the historical and current effects of living in a
white supremacist, patriarchal, and heteronormative society on people of
color, women, or individuals with different genders or sexual orientations. As
America’s ruling class continues to obstruct our nation’s progress, young
Amer icans need to step up and advocate for an equitable democracy and a
just society.
The key to creating a pluralistic, open, and socially just union is to create
civil discourse, to practice listening and dissent, and to allow and foster free
thought. According to Bell (2007, p. 2), the goals of a socially just society
should be, “democratic and participatory, inclusive and affirming of human
agency and human capacities for working collaboratively to create change.”
An egalitarian society threatens the populists’ power, plots, and policies, but
helps all other citizens. Developing this kind of democracy depends on the
participation and engagement of all citizens, including those with vast social
privileges.
In Got Solidarity?, I share the thoughts, feelings, and questions of 92
ordinary straight white men on 10 different U.S. college campuses. Following
phenomenological methods (Seidman, 1998), I trace the participants’
upbringing in families, schools, and communities; their thoughts about engag-
ing in and learning from diversity in college; their conceptualizations of their
Preface ix
own identities; their ruminations about privilege and oppression; their trepi-
dations about challenging social inequities; and their notions about their own
responsibility to foster diversity and affect social change. A book for and
about straight white men, Got Solidarity? encourages readers to develop their
own consciousness and empathy, and to build solidarity with peers from
minoritized backgrounds.
Once they move beyond college and into their careers, straight white men
will hold social, economic, and professional positions of enormous influence
in which they can affect real change. Hence, educators must challenge,
support, and expect straight white college men to interrogate power and
privilege, to develop capacity to build solidarity with others, and to help to
engender social justice. Given our current Amer ican quandary, this book
makes a timely contribution to our understanding of masculinity and our
endeavors to create a more solidary society.
La Crosse, October 2019
