Poor Whites are labeled “White trash” for having failed to conform to middle-class standards of achievement, success, and productivity; and they are frequently made scapegoats for the racial failings of White Americans broadly.46 And Whites who are perceived to be too similar or sympathetic to Blacks or other people of color are labeled as traitors to their own kind. In both cases, the message is clear: “real” White people behave as other White people do. They conform.
