Structure

Richard Dyer divides his book into six chapters, each of which focuses on a separate aspect or representation of whiteness. For example, one focuses on lighting and whiteness in photographic and film media, one focuses on whiteness as a hue, skin tone, and symbol, and still another stays purely focused on the white male body and its intentional exposure in certain film genres. Dividing up the book so as to have each chapter investigate a distinctive subject matter is effective in providing in-depth and varied understandings of whiteness in all aspects of life. This helps the reader to accept Dyer’s claim that whiteness is pervasive as a concept and thus deserves to be studied thoroughly in much the same way that racial studies about non-white people are not emerging in several different scholarly genres and subjects.

Notably, Dyer’s chapters should be read in chronological order...