ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the topic of racism, defines it as a term, and emphasises how it is (or should be) a mainstream concern for social scientists, including sociologists, many of whom have made important contributions to understanding it. There is a discussion of the changing meanings of the term ‘race’. The definition of racism adopted in this book is broadly aligned with Robert Miles’s three-part definition involving ideological conceptions of race (with either explicit or implicit biological conception or naturalisation of race categories), the organisation of race categories within hierarchies, and practices of domination. The emphasis of the book is especially on the third dimension, which points to the systemic nature of racism. The chapter briefly outlines the main arguments developed in each chapter.
