Racism: A Very Short Introduction

Citation

Rattansi, A. (2020). Racism: A Very Short Introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Chapter Summary

The second edition of this Very Short Introduction has seven chapters, followed by references and a further-reading list, in about 180 pages. The publisher says the book resists short definitions of racism, such as the formula "Power + Prejudice = Racism", and treats racism as a complex, multidimensional phenomenon. It explores the history of racial ideas and a range of racisms (biological, cultural, colour-blind and structural) and addresses recent debates: whether Islamophobia is a form of racism, whether there is a new antisemitism, why whiteness has become an important topic, and what intersectionality and unconscious or implicit bias are.

Chapter 1: Some conundrums

The opening chapter, whose title ends "some conundrums", sets out puzzles about racism. Given the publisher's emphasis on the failure of short definitions, it is the place where the difficulty of defining racism is raised.

Chapter 2: Imperialism, genocide, and the science of race

This chapter covers the history of racial ideas, which the publisher says the book explores, linking the emergence of the idea of race to imperialism and genocide and to the claim of a science of race.

Chapter 3: The demise of scientific racism

The third chapter follows the decline of scientific racism. The publisher's mention of biological racism as one of the racisms examined places the discussion of its collapse here.

Chapter 4: Racialization, cultural racism, and religion

The chapter moves from biology to culture and religion. It covers cultural racism and the process of racialization, and its title points to the kinds of racism behind the publisher's questions about Islamophobia and antisemitism. At more than forty pages it is the longest chapter in the contents.

Chapter 5: Structural racism and colourblind whiteness

Here the book takes up the structural and colour-blind racisms that the publisher names, together with the debate over whiteness. The emphasis is on systems that entrench racialised inequalities over time, as opposed to individual prejudice.

Chapter 6: Intersectionality and implicit or unconscious bias

This chapter introduces intersectionality and implicit or unconscious bias, two ideas the publisher singles out among the topics of recent debate, and asks what significance the latter has in understanding racism.

Chapter 7: The rise of rightwing national populism and the future of racism

The final chapter relates racism to contemporary rightwing national populism and looks ahead.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–3: Definitions and history

• Racism is plural: the publisher stresses a variety of racisms in the world today rather than a single phenomenon.
• Individual prejudice versus systematic racism: the distinction between personal attitudes and structures that entrench racialised inequalities over time.
• Scientific racism: the claim to a science of race, and its demise.

Chapters 4–5: Culture, religion and structure

• Racialization and cultural racism: how groups come to be treated as races, and how culture and religion can serve in place of biology.
• Structural racism: racism built into institutions and arrangements.
• Colour-blind racism and whiteness: racism that operates without explicit reference to race, and the debates over whiteness.

Chapters 6–7: Bias and politics

• Intersectionality: how race combines with other axes such as class and gender.
• Implicit or unconscious bias: attitudes that operate below conscious awareness, and their importance.
• National populism: the contemporary political setting in which racism's future is considered.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A clear stance on definition. The publisher presents the book as an argument against one-line definitions of racism and for distinguishing individual prejudice from systematic racisms; this gives the short text a spine.
• Wide span in a short space. In seven chapters the book moves from imperialism and the science of race to colour-blind racism, intersectionality and populism, a longer timeline than most brief introductions cover.
• Responds to current debates. The second edition takes up questions the publisher names: Islamophobia, antisemitism, whiteness, intersectionality and implicit bias.
• A sociologist's perspective. Rattansi has taught at Cambridge, Leicester, The Open University and City, University of London, and has written Racism, Modernity and Identity and the Multiculturalism volume in the same series.

Limitations

• Very brief. About 160 pages of text across seven chapters means the subjects are surveyed, not studied in depth, and the references and further reading are the route to detail.
• Contested topics. Questions such as whether Islamophobia is a form of racism are presented by the publisher as the subject of recent debate; readers should expect arguments rather than settled answers and consult other views.

Where It Fits in the Course

Rattansi is a short, argument-led introduction in the race and ethnicity course. Kivisto and Croll's Race and Ethnicity: The Basics is another brief starter that gives a broader sociological overview of racial and ethnic relations, including prejudice, inequality, conflict and inclusion; reading it alongside Rattansi gives both the sociology of ethnic relations and a focus on racism specifically.

Garner's Racisms: An Introduction is an undergraduate textbook that also treats racism as plural and historically changing, with case studies from many countries, and is the natural longer follow-up. Omi and Winant's Racial Formation in the United States is a theoretical account of race as a social and political construction, and the two British studies, Elliott-Cooper's Black Resistance to British Policing and Bhattacharyya and colleagues' Empire's Endgame, apply critical perspectives to Britain.

How to Use This Book

No background in sociology is needed. The book suits first-year students, general readers and anyone preparing to read the longer or more theoretical books on the course list.

A practical plan:

• Read in order. The chapters run from the history of racial ideas to contemporary politics, and the argument for plural racisms builds from the start.
• Core: Chapters 2–5, which give the historical background and the main forms of racism.
• For current debates: Chapters 6 and 7 on intersectionality, implicit bias and national populism.
• Afterwards: follow the further-reading list, or move to Garner or Omi and Winant depending on whether a textbook or a theory is wanted next.