Race in America

In Race in America (2016), an undergraduate textbook on race relations, American sociologists Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer look at race through the lens of sociology, offering a comprehensive examination of the state of race relations in 21st-century America, one that urges a conversation about how to right the wrongs of racial inequality before they further contaminate the fabric of both our society and our nation. An earlier version of the text was published in 2010 under the title Racial Domination, Racial Progress: The Sociology of Race in America.

The volume opens with an overview of how America got to this point in her history, where racism is still the cancer it always was. This may have gotten better in some regards, but racism still remains; in fact, in many ways, it remains as inexorably bound with key features of American society as at any other point in history. Institutional racism is alive and well—look no further than the proliferation of jails overpopulated with prisoners of color. However, this is different than interpersonal racism—though, of course, there are undeniable connections between the two, and they constantly feed off one another. The structures that hold up modern American society are almost exclusively run by white people, and society accepts and normalizes this white domination to the point that racism—however overt or casual it might be—is the natural byproduct of such an uneven power structure.

Desmond and Emirbayer take readers back in time to the colonization of America, which was both the birth of a nation and the birth of a unique brand of racism on these shores. From the Spanish and English Conquests to the Atlantic slave trade, slaves and other marginalized populations built America, both literally and figuratively. To say that racism is as American as apple pie or baseball is not an understatement; it is fact, and one need look no further than an elementary school history book to see that. The authors touch upon the horrors of slavery, the seeming freedom of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the subsequent brutality of Jim Crow. Then, the birth of the civil rights movement and the key figures who paved the way for breakthroughs in racial equality, from securing the right to vote to Barack Obama twice winning the Presidency. But along the way, there are roadblocks, too many to count, that continue to repress African American rights, among them economic racism, equal housing struggles, the myth of the "welfare queen," and the school-to-prison pipeline that seems designed to incarcerate young black folks as soon as they turn 18.



These are just some of the subjects examined in this volume. Desmond and Emirbayer illustrate how deeply ingrained racial inequality is in virtually every major component of American life. Obviously, this embeddedness informs white people's perceptions and opinions of people of color. Whiteness surrounds us in ways both named and unnamed, resulting in a dizzying array of advantages for white people.

Desmond and Emirbayer also look at racism in relation to the arts. Throughout history, there have been glaring differences in how white artists and black artists present the black experience. The white gaze fuels and funds much of the worlds of art and entertainment, so black artists tend not to receive the same attention as white ones. When hip-hop emerged in the 1970s, it was both a blessing and a curse for the black community. It offered a trailblazing new musical sound that elevated many performers to superstar status, but some criticized it for reinforcing old stereotypes and furthering destructive racist tropes. Still, hip-hop and rap music and other breakthroughs would later be culturally appropriated by whites with little, if any, acknowledgment of where they came from. Even in the arts, then, escaping American racism has proven impossible.

Also of interest are the many social divides that intersect with racism, such as those based on gender, sexual orientation, and economic class, to name just a few. There are more organized, institutionalized divides in place as well, such as segregated communities, hate groups, digital/virtual/online racism, and religious intolerance.



Race relations aren't just in the public sphere. They make their way into American homelife, too. Black families were torn asunder under slavery; bans on interracial marriage kept loving couples apart up until not that long ago; and single motherhood became a fact of life for many women of color.

In the end, this information points readers to a worthwhile goal: a colorblind society that prides itself on multiculturalism. Desmond and Emirbayer lay out all the changes that need to happen at the individual, interactional, institutional, and collective levels. These are changes that are long overdue. The first step toward progress is knowledge—like the information presented in this volume.

Race in America includes photos, a glossary, notes on the text, and an index.