Racisms: An Introduction

Citation

Garner, S. (2017). Racisms: An Introduction (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.

Chapter Summary

The second edition (the imprint page dates the first edition to 2011) has twelve chapters, running to about 330 pages. SAGE says it adds two chapters, on ethnicity and on immigration, and thirty new internationally focused case studies. Chapter 1, which SAGE publishes as a sample, opens with a list of aims ("In this chapter we will..."), uses numbered boxes, and ends with conclusions, points for reflection and annotated further reading. The notes below are fullest for Chapter 1 and otherwise follow the chapter titles.

Chapter 1: The Idea of 'Race' and the Practice of Racisms

The chapter argues that "race" is a social category rather than a biological fact, since no satisfactory definition has been found and genetic variation does not sort people into distinct groups. It follows the history of the idea through the sixteenth century, the Enlightenment's classifications and nineteenth-century racial science, with boxes on race and genes, essentialism and the question of how many "races" there are. It then turns to definitions of racism, rejects the view that racism means only extreme cases or personal prejudice, and settles on a working definition of racism as a set of unequal social relationships, used in the plural, "racisms," because societies organise it differently.

Chapter 2: Racialization

The end of Chapter 1 introduces racialization as the dominant concept for understanding how "race" becomes salient in the sociology of racism; this chapter takes it up.

Chapter 3: Ethnicity

One of the two chapters added in the second edition, devoted to ethnicity.

Chapters 4–5: Race, Class and Gender; Race, Nation, State

These chapters place racism alongside other social divisions and structures. The author is known for work on racism and its intersection with class and nation.

Chapter 6: Institutional Racism

Chapter 1 lists institutional racism among the "levels" of racism that sociology distinguishes, beside individual, cultural and indirect forms; this chapter treats the institutional level in its own right.

Chapters 7–8: Science; Mixedness

Two chapters on the scientific claims made about "race," which Chapter 1 already treats historically, and on people of mixed background.

Chapter 9: New Racisms?

Chapter 1 refers ahead to this chapter for the "colour-blind" frame, which holds that talking about "race" is itself the problem, and for boxes on "reverse racism" and the "culture of racial equivalence."

Chapter 10: Immigration

The second chapter added in this edition, devoted to immigration.

Chapters 11–12: Whiteness; Islamophobia

The closing chapters take up whiteness, a subject on which the author has published widely, and Islamophobia.

Key Concepts

Chapter 1: The Idea of 'Race' and the Practice of Racisms

• 'Race' as a social category: a classification without biological basis whose consequences for people are nevertheless real and measurable.
• Essentialism: treating groups as having fixed inner natures (Box 1.2).
• Racisms (plural): the book's term for forms of racism that vary by place, time and level.
• Working definition of racism: an unequal collective power relationship rather than individual deviance.

Chapters 2–6

• Racialization: the process by which "race" becomes meaningful in social life.
• Ethnicity; intersection with class, gender and nation; institutional racism.

Chapters 7–12

• Colour-blind frame and 'reverse racism': positions discussed in Chapter 9.
• Whiteness and Islamophobia: the subjects of the last two chapters.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A definition that carries through the book. Chapter 1 devotes its later sections to building a working definition of racism and criteria for judging competing definitions, and later chapters cross-refer to it. This gives a student a stable reference point.
• Plain explanation of contested terms. Chapter 1 separates racism as individual prejudice from racism as social relations and shows why the difference matters, using examples that include the Rachel Dolezal case and the Linnaeus-to-Morton classifications.
• Study aids in each chapter. The sample shows aims, boxes, conclusions, "Points for Reflection" and annotated further reading, which suit seminar use.
• International scope. SAGE reports thirty new internationally focused case studies, and the author has worked on England, Ireland, the USA and Guyana.

Limitations

• A position, not a neutral survey. Garner says that his core idea, that racism is a set of social relationships rather than individual deviance, is still a minority view in popular understanding. The book argues for it, so students should also read other accounts.
• No chapter on resistance or policy. None of the twelve chapter titles addresses anti-racist action or policy, although the publisher says the book helps readers understand how to challenge racism.
• Publication date. The text appeared in 2017, so later events and debates are not included; check whether a newer edition exists.

Where It Fits in the Course

Garner is the full undergraduate textbook among the race and ethnicity books on this site. Kivisto and Croll's Race and Ethnicity: The Basics and Rattansi's Racism: A Very Short Introduction are shorter starting points; Rattansi, like Garner, argues for understanding racisms in the plural. Garner's twelve chapters offer longer coverage, with separate chapters on racialization, mixedness, immigration, whiteness and Islamophobia.

Omi and Winant's Racial Formation in the United States is the theoretical companion, setting out race as a social and political construction made through historical struggle and state policy, and suits readers who want to see the argument developed at theory level. Elliott-Cooper's Black Resistance to British Policing is a focused study of racial discrimination, police brutality and resistance to them in Britain. Bhattacharyya and colleagues' Empire's Endgame is a graduate-level examination of racism and the British state.

How to Use This Book

Garner is written for undergraduates with no prior study of race and ethnicity, though an introductory sociology course helps.

• Core: Chapters 1 and 2, which fix the vocabulary, then Chapter 6 on institutional racism and Chapter 9 on contemporary racisms.
• By interest: Chapters 3 and 10 for ethnicity and immigration, Chapters 11 and 12 for whiteness and Islamophobia, and Chapter 7 if the history of racial science matters to the course.
• Practice: use the "Points for Reflection" at the end of each chapter for seminar discussion, and test the working definition from Chapter 1 against each case study in later chapters.