Critical Whiteness: A Transactional Analysis of a Systemic Oppression

Abstract This article discusses Whiteness as a systemic oppression and critical Whiteness as a theory and practice that challenges cultural neutrality and the othering of non-White people. The authors consider a particular form of White identity from the context of a postcolonial society, that of Aotearoa New Zealand. Following a brief review of the transactional analysis literature on oppression—specifically, the work of the radical psychiatrists (Steiner and others) and other authors on cultural scripting (Drego and Mazzetti), the article offers a critical transactional analysis of different aspects of Whiteness in terms of transactions, ego states, scripts, and games.