White supremacy and racism in the post-civil rights era /

Bonilla-Silva is a rising young Texas A&M sociologist who does innovative research on US racial conflict and oppression. In this somewhat disconnected set of essays, he develops original ideas about such important issues as how contemporary racial attitudes are formed, the new color-blind racism spreading across the nation, and the post-Civil Rights Movement structure of the US. Bonilla-Silva is gifted at data analysis and theoretical assessments. "Color-blind racism" is the racial ideology common among white Americans that supports and reproduces continuing racial inequality today. Using a 1998 social survey that he supervised, Bonilla-Silva shows that this color-blind ideology accents abstract liberalism, naturalness of racial differences, and denial of structural racism. White responses to short-answer survey questions on such topics as affirmative action and interracial marriage, which are typically liberal, often differ from the more racist responses given by the same (or similar) respondents to in-depth questions on the same issues. This probing and critical look at ongoing racism in the US should be in every library. Thorough notes. All levels. J. R. Feagin University of Florida

Bonilla-Silva explores the modern structure of American racism with subtleties that make it less obvious, but no less pernicious, than the racism of the slavery and Jim Crow eras. The prime objective of maintaining racial privilege and advantage for whites remains intact for the prototypical "color-blind" racist who avoids racially charged terminology, espouses race-neutral concepts, and may even adapt a liberal veneer. Bonilla-Silva reviews current literature on racial attitudes and analyzes his own surveys on race. Typical narrative responses--the past is past; I never owned slaves; my friend or relative didn't get a job because a black person got it--reveal underlying racial ideology that justifies and maintains the status quo. Unfortunately, according to Bonilla-Silva, most typical studies and popular notions of racism are centered on individual pathologies and don't recognize the ingrained and institutionalized manifestations of racial injustice. However, American public policy and popular opinion ignore the interconnection between disparate results and racial ideology. This is an insightful look at racial politics that will appeal to readers interested in racial issues. --Vernon Ford

Though many laws have been put in place to insure the rights of minorities in the United States, there are still questions about whether the beliefs of the white-majority population regarding minorities have changed. Has the push for political correctness encouraged people to rethink their beliefs? This book shows that in many cases the white majority still holds negative stereotypes about minorities and that many still believe that whites are better. Using extensive research and interviews, Bonilla-Silva (sociology, Texas A&M Univ.) discusses the history of discrimination in the United States and how in many cases beliefs have not changed but have just been moved underground. He also shows that institutional racism still plays a role in society. With its extensive bibliography and end notes, this book will find a home in academic libraries. Danna Bell-Russel, Library of Congress (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.