White Fragility Themes

Author and educator Robin DiAngelo defines “white fragility”—the book’s central topic—as the way in which white people react with anger, guilt, or denial when faced with the realities of racism and white supremacy. But as DiAngelo explains, these reactions center white people’s feelings in conversations about race and only perpetuate white supremacy and racism, because they prevent white people from honestly examining and disrupting racist behavior and systems. Thus, DiAngelo suggests that…

White supremacy refers to white people’s centrality and assumed superiority in society, and how this positioning has led to overarching political, economic, and social systems dominated by white people. But white supremacy isn’t only the foundation of historical systems like slavery or segregation—it still has a large impact on society today. In showing how white supremacy has evolved over time, White Fragility illustrates how white people continue to benefit from and perpetuate the dynamics of…

Understanding white people as a collective group is key to combating white supremacy, because it draws attention to the advantages that white people have in society. However, this understanding is difficult for most white people because of three key Western ideologies: individualism, objectivity, and meritocracy. Individualism maintains that every person is unique from others, even those within social groups; objectivity holds that it is possible to be free of all bias; and meritocracy suggests…