Final answer:
The historian argues that the concept of a "working class" became associated with "whiteness" during the 19th century, which coincided with the rise of popular racism. This association was influenced by the social, economic, and legal conditions that favored white racial identity within the laboring population and society at large.
Step-by-step explanation:
The argument presented by the historian suggests that during the 19th century, the concept of a "working class" became closely associated with whiteness especially as popular racism was on the rise. The transformation of social identity, which emerged in part due to the Industrial Revolution, inadvertently linked the interests and characteristics of the laboring majority with whiteness. This linkage was underscored by the colonial attitudes and the power dynamics of the time.
Whiteness, as conceived in this period, served as a manner of social classification that not only encompassed race but also stood as a representation of labor status, socio-economic category, and entitlement to certain rights and privileges. The historian's argument interacts with the discourse on the linkage between class, race, and the historical processes of industrialization and colonial rule. In essence, whiteness came to symbolize both a racial category and a worker identity, thus aligning the white working class against other racialized labor groups and reinforcing racial inequities.
The concurrent developments in the perception of labor, race, and class distinctions, as noted by scholars such as W. E. B. Du Bois, reveals how race was not just a social construct but also a determinant in the lived experience of people, influencing access to wages, power, and socioeconomic mobility. This intricate relationship fostered the conflation of the white identity with working-class status, a narrative that was propagated and sustained by legal, cultural, and economic institutions of the time.