ABSTRACT

Racist policies are identified as "opportunity killers," and the disparities created by them often have racism sustained through race-neutral policies. Systemic Racism in America: Sociological Theory, Education Inequality, and Social Change situates our contemporary moment within a historical framework and works to identify forms, occurrences, and consequences of racism as well as argue for concrete solutions to address it.

This volume assembles renowned and thought-provoking social scientists to address the destructive impacts of structural racism and the recent, incendiary incidents that have driven racial injustice and racial inequality to the fore of public discussion and debate. The book is organized into three parts to explore and explain the ways in which racism persists, permeates, and operates within our society. The first part presents theoretical perspectives to analyze the roots and manifestation of contemporary racism; the second concentrates on educational inequality and structural issues within our institutions of learning that have led to stark racial disparities; and the third and final section focuses on solutions to our current state and how people, regardless of their race, can advocate for racial equity.

Urgent and needed, Systemic Racism in America is valuable reading for students and scholars in the social sciences, as well as informed readers with an interest in racism and racial inequality and a passion to end it.

chapter |6 pages

Introduction

part I|64 pages

Systemic Racism and Sociological Theory

chapter 81|14 pages

The Past in the Present

Slavery's Long Shadow

chapter 3|14 pages

W.E.B. Du Bois at the Center

From Science, Civil Rights Movement, to Black Lives Matter

chapter 4|21 pages

Make America White Again

The Racial Reasoning of American Nationalism

part II|68 pages

Systemic Racism and Education Inequality

chapter 6|20 pages

Why Did Convergence of the Achievement Gap Stop?

Macroeconomic Change, Policy, and Racial Avoidance

chapter 7|27 pages

Seeing Our Most Vulnerable Homeless Students

The Impact of Systemic Racism on the Education of Black Homeless Youth in the United States

part III|80 pages

Systemic Racism and Social Change

chapter 8|21 pages

Pursuing Racial Justice on Predominantly White Campuses

Divergent Institutional Responses to Racially Palatable and Racially Conscious Students

chapter 9|22 pages

Black Lives Matter in Polarized News Media

Politics, Policing, Prejudice, and Protest

chapter 10|20 pages

Forging Alliances, Seeking Justice

How Relatively Privileged Young People Imagine and Build Solidarity across Differences

chapter 11|15 pages

Forming a Racially Inclusive Sociological Imagination

Becoming a Racial Equity Learner, Racial Equity Advocate, and Racial Equity Broker