Explain the argument that race is a theory of history using the history of whiteness in Jacobsons book?

Question

To all my friends out there, i have been recently asked this broad question and in my opinion its to fragile to answer. I work in a big company and race is a big deal that we came to discuss and someone brought up Jacobsons as an example. I was stunned so i ask you my friends to help me out.

These are the other questions they asked me as well

How whiteness was manufactured and how it changed over time?

This one led to a big debate on Tuesday. Guys/Girls i don't want to be eaten alive here

Answer 1

I'll offer a few comments.

The color of a person's skin tends to be categorized and placed on a spectrum.

It seems that, in America, at least, Anglo Saxon whites are at a different point on the spectrum then are the Celts.  And, of course, ones of other colors occupy other points on this broad spectrum.

And, discrimination based on this difference in skin color is well documented and the conditions for placement at a specific point on this spectrum are ever changing as time and societal norms march on.

But, I don't believe that skin color can be correlated to other cognitive or behavior attributes at any significant statistical level.  Of course, there are minor differences.  But, they are insignificant.