DiTomaso, Nancy.
New York : Russell Sage Foundation, [2013]
Added to CLICnet on 10/26/2015

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Notes:

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 377-389) and index.
• Prologue — Introduction : racial inequality without racism — Jobs, opportunities, and fairness : the stakes of equal opportunity — Community, networks, and social capital — The American dream : individualism and inequality — The transformation of post-civil rights politics : race, religion, class, and culture — The white electorate : the white working class, religious conservatives, professionals, and the disengaged — Government, taxes, and welfare — Affirmative actions and equal opportunity : changes in access to education and jobs for women, African Americans, and immigrants — Conclusion : Myrdal’s dilemma and the American non-dilemma.
• The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s seemed to mark a historical turning point in advancing the American dream of equal opportunity for all citizens, regardless of race. Yet 50 years on, racial inequality remains a troubling fact of life in American society and its causes are highly contested. In The American Non-Dilemma, sociologist Nancy DiTomaso convincingly argues that America’s enduring racial divide is sustained more by whites’ preferential treatment of members of their own social networks than by overt racial discrimination. Drawing on research from sociology, political science, history, and psychology, as well as her own interviews with a cross-section of non-Hispanic whites, DiTomaso provides a comprehensive examination of the persistence of racial inequality in the post-Civil Rights era and how it plays out in today’s economic and political context.Taking Gunnar Myrdal’s classic work on America’s racial divide, The American Dilemma, as her departure point, DiTomaso focuses on the white side of the race line. To do so, she interviewed a sample of working, middle, and upper-class whites about their life histories, political views, and general outlook on racial inequality in America. While the vast majority of whites profess strong support for civil rights and equal opportunity regardless of race, they continue to pursue their own group-based advantage, especially in the labor market where whites tend to favor other whites in securing jobs protected from market competition. This opportunity hoarding leads to substantially improved life outcomes for whites due to their greater access to social resources from family, schools, churches, and other institutions with which they are engaged. DiTomaso also examines how whites understand the persistence of racial inequality in a society where whites are, on average, the advantaged racial group. Most whites see themselves as part of the solution rather than part of the problem with regard to racial inequality. Yet they continue to harbor strong reservations

Subjects:

• African Americans — Civil rights.
• African Americans — Economic conditions.
• Equality — United States.
• United States — Race relations.
• Racism — United States.

Requested by Fischer, N.