User:Mike4ty4/White supremacy

In politics, sociology, and activism, the term white supremacy refers to beliefs, political ideologies, social and institutional structures, and cultural attitudes which are based around the notion that white people constitute a distinguished human group which is superior to other groups and, as a result, is entitled to rule over or otherwise dominate them.

White supremacist theory
White supremacy is built on the idea that there exists a hierarchy of human groups which are distinguishable by their physical characteristics and ancestry and which have differing capabilities and/or moral and social worth, called races, with the white race -- a group which at present includes all the native population of Europe and their colonial diaspora, although in the past may have been more restrictive -- as being at the pinnacle of the hierarchy, endowed with the most ability and virtue, and so is best suited to rule over the races lower on the hierarchy, such as the Black and Asian races as well as other indigenous races encountered by Europeans during their colonial expansion. As a result of this belief, colonial societies such as the United States of America, Australia, and South Africa were built up in such a fashion, with laws and social practices, as to favor white people over indigenous peoples and other non-white peoples, now collectively termed people of color.

White supremacy as political ideology
As a political ideology, the term "white supremacy" refers to any system of political positions which are defined by the notion of white superiority as mentioned above, and often also the notion that because of such superiority, white people should rule over people of color. A follower of a political ideology of white supremacy is known as a white supremacist.

White supremacy as social-cultural structure
In sociology and anti-racist activism, the term white supremacy refers not only to ideologies, but also to social and cultural constructs, especially those enshrined in the practices of social institutions, written and unwritten rules, and modes of thinking that contain, reflect, or are rooted or based in the notion of white superiority and which serve to give and maintain power and privilege in the hands of white people.