Abstract: The candidacy of Barack Obama has led some commentators to proclaim that the United States is now a post-racial society. But recent survey data suggest another story. In late-June 2008, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that nearly half of all Amer icans thought that race relations were in bad shape and that 3 in 10 acknowledge feelings of racial prejudice (Cohen and Agriesta 2008). And the differences between black and white attitudes were stark and profound. In mid-July 2008, a New York Times/CBS News poll found that 4 in 10 blacks believed that no progress in eliminating racial discrimination had been made in recent years while fewer than 2 in 10 whites thought the same (Nagourney and Thee 2008). The present moment constitutes a bundle of contradictions in respect to racism. How is it possible to have persistent forms of racial inequality in a period in which colorblind ness is the hegemonic racial ideology and most whites claim that racism is no longer relevant? Both Feagin and Bonilla-Silva engage these contradictions by specifying the nature of contemporary racism in the U.S. Charac terized as systemic (Feagin) or structural (Bonilla-Silva), racism is seen by both authors as a fundamental social fact, a constitutive and highly resilient organizing principle that has shaped US society both historically and in the present. In their respective accounts racism is both flexible and enduring, both consistent and variable. In Systemic Racism, Feagin addresses racis m's comprehensive presence in US society and continues his qualitative emphasis on the lived reality of racism. The official ver sion of the nation's history goes to great lengths to deny or at least minimize racism's ineluctable presence. Feagin's approach is the direct opposite. He shows how racial injustice and oppression have pervaded Systemic Racism: A Theory of Oppression, by Joe R. Feagin. New York: Routledge, 2006. 368pp. $24.95 paper. ISBN: 9780415952781.
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-03-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 34
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