The median wealth of white families is increasing over time, while the median wealth of black families is decreasing. Yet, we find that many white Americans feel subjectively low status. In this talk, I will explore the psychological processes contributing to these effects through the lens of growing U.S. economic inequality, widespread race/class stereotypes that associate white people with wealth and black people with poverty, and lessons about white privilege. Our hope is to better understand how these perceived pressures of “living up to whiteness” create obstacles to addressing rising racial economic inequality—with hopes of finding better pathways forward.