ABSTRACT
The deepest obstacle to understanding the new politics of race—to recognizing what the conflicts over race are now about—is the universal, if unspoken, assumption that we already understand the place of race in contemporary America. The charge of covert racism has become commonplace. The notion of a covert racism has been developed by the new racism researchers as a part of their self-conscious critique of mainstream American values. This chapter explores the extent to which, and the conditions under which, ordinary Americans practice a double standard in determining who is entitled to a public benefit or government service. It considers the logic of the laid-off worker experiment. The outcome of the equal opportunity experiment is thus the opposite of the laid-off worker experiment. The chapter focuses on the role of prejudice in shaping the contemporary politics of race. Negative racial stereotypes would matter less politically if they were only an expression of prejudice.
