Race and Ethnic Conflict: Contending Views on Prejudice, Discrimination, and Ethnoviolence

by Fred L. Pincus, Fred L. Pincus, Howard J. Ehrlich

Book Overview

An introduction to the key debates and principle writings on racial and ethnic conflict in America, representing conservative, liberal and radical positions. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813316626
• ISBN13: 9780813316628
• Release Date: July 1994
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 424 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Good presentation of various theoretical frameworks and social discourses

The previous reviewer's commentary is both biased and flawed, and his words reveal anger and probably latent racist beliefs as well. This book is a nice collection of various viewpoints in social science studies of prejudice, discrimination, and racism in the job market, higher education, and American life in general. Most of the readings are written by sociologists, so there is a heavy reliance on statistics and numbers to support the contributors' arguments. The single best article is written by Bob Blauner and is called "Talking Past Each Other: Black and White Languages of Race." In this article, Blauner deconstructs the VERY type of rhetoric that the previous reviewer employs, rhetoric that is very characteristic of many whites in the post-Civil Rights Era (read the article for more information). Blauner's article, and the book in general, stress the importance that personal upbringing and experience plays in shaping one's views about race or anything else for that matter. That is the key point. A white multi-millionaire who grew up in a condominium on the shores of Long Island is simply not going to have the same outlook on life as an impoverished black female living in the slums of Chicago's South Side...period. The sooner Americans of all racial backgrounds realize that, and the sooner people accept and understand that their personal experiences have shaped their worldviews - and realize that NO ONE has an "objective" or "unbiased" worldview - that better off we will be. Books like this emphasize this crucial idea. For some reason, those who find themselves in relatively advantaged positions in society have a very hard time facing this music. This is a great book.