Racism: a Very Short Introduction

Front Cover
Oxford University Press, Mar 26, 2020 - Social Science - 208 pages
There is often a demand for a short, sharp definition of racism, for example as captured in the popular formula Power + Prejudice= Racism. But in reality, racism is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon that cannot be captured by such definitions. In our world today there are a variety of racisms at play, and it is necessary to distinguish between issues such as individual prejudice, and systematic racisms which entrench racialiazed inequalities over time.

This Very Short Introduction explores the history of racial ideas and a wide range of racisms - biological, cultural, colour-blind, and structural - and illuminates issues that have been the subject of recent debates. Is Islamophobia a form of racism? Is there a new antisemitism? Why has whiteness become an important source of debate? What is Intersectionality? What is unconscious or implicit bias, and what is its importance in understanding racial discrimination? Ali Rattansi tackles these questions, and also shows why African Americans and other ethnic minorities in the USA and Europe continue to suffer from discrimination today that results in ongoing disadvantage in these white dominant societies. Finally he explains why there has been a resurgence of national populist and far-right movements and explores their implications for the future of racism.

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Contents

some conundrums
1
Chapter 2 Imperialism genocide and the science of race
10
Chapter 3 The demise of scientific racism
34
Chapter 4 Racialization cultural racism and religion
50
Chapter 5 Structural racism and colourblind whiteness
94
Chapter 6 Intersectionality and implicit or unconscious bias
128
Chapter 7 The rise of rightwing national populism and the future of racism
147
References
163
Further reading
170
PUBLISHERS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
173
Index
174
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About the author (2020)


Ali Rattansi was born in Nairobi and educated at the Universities of Manchester and Trinity College, Cambridge. He has taught at Cambridge, Leicester, The Open University, and City, University of London. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a Visiting Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge. His many books include Racism, Modernity and Identity (Polity Press, 1994), and Multiculturalism A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2011).

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