"White Trash" -- A Spurious Category (was Re: Populism asMasquerade)

[michael perelman]

The expression, white trash, supposedly came from blacks who did not work as
field hands and believe themselves to be culturally superior to poor whites.

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:


> Now, allow me to say a word about the term "white trash."  I think this is
> a spurious term that no leftist should use, except when you are trying to
> expose it as a false category that divides workers.  I think that those
> cultural studies folks who sort of invented what may be called hip "white
> trash studies" (e.g. _White Trash: Race and Class in America_, eds. Matt
> Wray and Annalee Newitz) have done a disservice to the Left.  The same must
> be said about the term "underclass."  These two terms have only ideological
> functions, and they have no explanatory power.

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu