Whiteness hurts society: How whiteness shapes mental, physical, and social health outcomes

Abstract

Confronting whiteness could complement and amplify the study of Critical Race Theory and enhance psychologists’ capacity to effectively study and address health and social issues. Whiteness is a racialized social system and a set of beliefs that uphold White American social supremacy and the oppression of populations of color. We discuss how prior scholarship has addressed whiteness and we illustrate how whiteness can harm health and well-being among White Americans and broader society. By documenting the negative effects of whiteness, we encourage divestment from the construction of reality that inequitably produces power and privilege, and ultimately, threatens society. Understanding how whiteness operates will aid the development of interventions and policies that reduce the inequity that results from whiteness and the enduring nature of racism. Finally, we call on psychologists to actively divest from systems of whiteness within our field; otherwise, we are complicit in how whiteness hurts society.