Amidst discontent over America’s developing diversity, many white Americans now look at the political globe through the zoom lens of a racial identity. Whiteness was once thought to be invisible due to whites’ dominant placement and ability to claim the mainstream, but today a large portion of whites actively identify using their racial group and support guidelines and applicants that they watch as protecting whites’ power and position.

In White Identification Politics, Ashley Jardina offers a landmark analysis of emerging patterns of white identity and collective political behavior, drawing on sweeping data. Where past study on whites’ racial attitudes emphasized out-group hostility, Jardina provides into focus the importance of in-group identification and favoritism. Light Identity Politics shows that disaffected whites aren’t just found among the functioning class; they make up a broad proportion from the American public-with profound implications for politics behavior and the future of racial conflict in the us.