Biology alone does not determine racial identity. Our concept of race is equally shaped by social norms and expectations, which are based on historical events and current practices. In North American society, being white is perceived as the norm. Often the fact that whiteness is also a race is not acknowledged.

As a result, researchers have begun to examine whiteness and to define it in terms of social impact. Such research concentrates on "white privilege" - the differences in power between whites and non-whites, and the advantages white people automatically take for granted.

The advantages of being white include learning the history of one's own race in school, to seeing members of one's own ethnic group widely represented in the media, to being confident that job refusals are not based on one's race.