Description
Book SynopsisRacial inequality might now be locked in place, unless policymakers immediately take drastic steps to dismantle this oppressive system.
Trade Review"A tremendously important examination of the racial disparity in achievement in America; one that tests the reflexive assumptions of both liberals and conservatives on the subject. Roithmayr's sobering read on our inequality gapits roots and its lingering effectsshould be required reading for anyone who believes in simple causation or easy fixes for the equality gap. This is a clear-eyed, and often brutal look at whether America is indeed 'post-racial' and what we must demand of ourselves to get there." -- Dahlia Lithwick,Senior Editor, Slate
"Offers an explanation of the operation of race that transcends and incorporates the best extant scholarship on the issue." -- Steven Ramirez,Loyola University Chicago
"The disadvantaged status of many blacks and Latinos is an enduring problem. Legal scholar Daria Roithmayr gives us profoundly important leverage on the 'locked-in' nature of American racial inequality. Her accessible and ably documented book shows how the historic works of 'racial cartels' like the Jim Crow system gave white Americans a now self-reinforcing and troublingly permanent economic advantage in life. Critically, she shows how todays ostensibly race-neutral processes of family inheritance, social network ties, and institutional practices and meritocratic standards make racial inequality automatic. This book is a necessary antidote to all the nonsense talk of post-racialism." -- Lawrence D. Bobo,W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University
"The most persuasive argument I've yet seen for why racial inequality persists and what we can do about it. Well-written, well-researched, and well worth reading." -- W. Brian Arthur,External Professor, Santa Fe Institute
"This book, which builds on an already impressive body of work by Professor Daria Roithmayr, deserves to be widely read. It is methodologically serious and theoretically rigorous." -- Gerald Torres,Bryant Smith Chair in Law, the University of Texas at Austin School of Law
"This is a well-researched and thought provoking analysis of the legacy and complexity of racism that has broad implications for American politics and social policies." -- Vanessa Bush * Booklist *
"Reproducing Racism: How Everyday Choices Lock in White Advantageby Daria Roithmayr, argues that racial inequality lives on because white advantage functions as a powerful self-reinforcing monopoly, reproducing itself automatically from generation to generation even in the absence of intentional discrimination." * Z Magazine *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same Some (Incomplete and Unsatisfying) Explanations for Persistent Inequality 2. Cheating at the Starting Line How White Racial Cartels Gained an Early Unfair Advantage during Jim Crow 3. Racial Cartels in Action An In-Depth Look at Historical Racial Cartels in Housing and Politics 4. Oh Dad, Poor DadHow Whites' Early Unfair Advantage in Wealth Became Self-Reinforcing over Time 5. It's How You Play the Game How Whites Created Institutional Rules That Favored Them over Time 6. Not What You Know, but Who You Know How Social Networks Reproduce Early Advantage 7. Please Won't You Be My Neighbor?How Neighborhood Effects Reproduce Racial Segregation 8. Locked In How White Advantage May Now Have Become Hard-Wired into the System 9. Reframing Race How the Lock-In Model Helps Us to Think in New Ways about Racial Inequality 10. Unlocking Lock-In Some General Observations (and One or Two Suggestions) on Dismantling Lock-In Conclusion Notes Index About the Author
