Review by Choice Review
Challenging a common lay perception that racial colorblindness is and should be the "dominant" ideology regarding race relations in the United States, Mazzocco (The Ohio State Univ.) argues that colorblindness is a social ideology that is damaging to racial minorities. Using psychological research, and focusing on white validation of the ideology, the author examines both individuals' and institutional "support for colorblindness." Based on a review of how colorblindness has been conceptualized and measured in the psychological literature, Mazzocco presents a "four-variety model" that integrates existing findings on the topic. A comprehensive summary of "contemporary racial inequalities" and "racial stratification" leads into a discussion of whites' perceptions, ignorance, and explanations of these inequalities. The last third of the book centers on the "consequences of colorblind practices" for topics such as the individual level (e.g., classification, differences, etc.); "interracial interactions"; policies in education, law, and business; and additional factors that relate to "endorsement of colorblind sentiments." Written in a clear and well-defined manner, the book is an essential resource for academic readers interested in racial colorblindness. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above; researchers and faculty. --Iva Iantcheva Katzarska-Miller, Transylvania University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
