White Knuckling by Tess Wise
In White Knuckling, Tess Wise combines political economy, political development, and ethnography to develop a theory of systemic racism as a political process. Using a Racialized Political Economy (RPE) lens, she links institutions, material conditions, culture, and contestation to demonstrate how systemic racism both benefits and harms white middle-class families. Drawing on interviews with families and bankruptcy court records, she follows individuals under economic strain and experiencing 'white knuckling' as they work through debt to explore how financialization turns hardship into revenue. She reveals that the promised rehabilitation often fails, operating as hidden public-private welfare that can preserve some assets while entrenching precarity. Tracing scripts of deservingness and responsibility, Wise demonstrates how racism in political economy helps and hurts white middle-class Americans, blinding them to their racial privilege and undermining the mechanisms that would lead to race and class solidarity.
Tess Wise is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest University. She studies the effect of credit, debt, and racial capitalism on everyday life and politics.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781009839433 |
| Title | White Knuckling |
| Author | Tess Wise |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Year published | 2026-09-30 |
| Number of pages | 200 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |