Beginning with the premise that race shapes white women's lives, just as much as gender shapes men's lives or sexuality shapes heterosexual lives, the author examines, through 30 life-history interviews, just how this "whiteness" is constructed. "Whiteness" is not an empty signifier, but rather a multifaceted daily experience of racial structuring, and through ethnographic descriptions of the 30 womens' lives, Frankenberg provides evidence that "whiteness" is a specific set of cultural practices.
