The World Is A Ghetto Race And Democracy Since World War Ii - Hardcover

Winant, Howard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465043402 ISBN 13: 9780465043408

Publisher: Basic Books, 2001

Synopsis

Why is racism so hard to overcome? Why is the world still beset by racial inequality and injustice, even after the supposed successes of the civil rights and anti-apartheid movements? In The World Is a Ghetto Howard Winant reinterprets post-WWII racial dynamics on a global scale by comparing postwar racial politics in four world centers: the U.S., South Africa, Brazil, and the European Union.Winant suggests that as the twenty-first century dawns, movements for racial justice are confronted by new obstacles. His critique of new forms of racial exclusion and inequality (for example, the supposedly "color-blind" racial policies and largely symbolic multiculturalism now in vogue around the world) provides provocative views on such global questions as continuing hostility to immigration, the breakdown of the welfare state, and the weakening of social movements.This is a timely and important book by a major theoretician of race relations. Winant not only deepens our understanding of race as both a contemporary and historical phenomenon but he also explains the continuing significance of racial justice for our ideals of democracy, of human well-being, and for cultural innovation in the years ahead.

About this title

About the Author

Howard Winant is Professor of Sociology at Temple University. He lives in Philadelphia.

Reviews

"All around the world," Winant declares, "the momentum of the struggle against racism is stalemated." Joining his personal motivation as a social activist and a child of Holocaust refugees with his training and scholarship, Winant (professor of sociology, Temple University; coauthor, Racial Formation in the United States) aims "to sound a political alarm." Deeply appreciative of W.E.B. Du Bois's prophetic observation that "[t]he problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line," Winant seeks "to explain why race is such an important social fact... at the turn of the 21st century." Ranging from Christopher Columbus's journey to the New World through World War II, he finds "the origins of modern class struggle, nationalism and many democratic movements as well... in struggles over racial rule." He then examines "the contemporary sociology of race" in the U.S., South Africa, Brazil and the European Union following World War II, arguing that old systems of racial domination have been undermined and pointing to the "new instabilities" such changes have brought. Winant's book is dense and sometimes daunting; it would have been a more pleasing read had some of the scholarly paraphernalia been tucked more discreetly into a bibliographical essay and the academic redundancy edited out. Still, it's a groundbreaking book, deeply instructive and thoughtfully provocative. (July)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465043402
• ISBN 13: 9780465043408
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448