The Enduring Myth of White Men's Disadvantage

In this talk, sociologist Tristan Bridges (University of California-Santa Barbara) will discuss his research with both pro-feminist and anti-feminist White men. Faced with a historically novel context in which gender and racial privilege are more visible than perhaps ever before, this work asks how groups of gender-politically engaged, straight White men navigate the increasing visibility of privilege. Rather than undoing privilege, Bridges documents the strategies each group mobilized that he shows work to sustain these men's collective denial of their structural positions of power. This process has the consequence of making gender and racial subordination, power, and marginalization less visible.

Sponsored by the Women, Gender & Sexuality Interdisciplinary Program with support from the Department of Sociology and the Intersectionality Community of Scholars.