Powerfully synthesizing major currents in the field, this book addresses the issue of inequality across American politics and society, using race as a lens for the exploration of major themes in American history. It considers the concept of race as a social construction, against the background of the historical struggles for fairness in a society based on the framework of democracy, whose principle is that majority's consent be necessary for the fulfillment of justice.
Foregrounding problems of race, capital, and political economy, it particularly examines the connections between race and class, the relationship of slavery and national politics, and the distinctive intellectual framework that Americans have developed to discuss race.
Offering a detailed account of civil rights legislation, an overview of immigration law and policy, and comprehensive overviews of debates about affirmative action, immigration, and the causes and solutionsto racialized urban poverty, this book emphasizes what is distinctive about the United States and offers a unique comparative framework for thinking about America's racial past.

Discusses American history from the early history of enslavement, nineteenth-century labor and politics to the modern debate about affirmative action and rights, combining secondary literature as well as original research Based on one hundred interviews with (ex-)activists in the 1990s and the 2000s Situates American understandings of race in both the history of science and in current scientific and social scientific research about race as a social construction. Introduces important dimensions of civil rights and black power history, with close attention to public policy

Autorentext

Professor Masaki Kawashima is Director of the Center for American Studies (CAS), Editor of Nanzan Review of American Studies (NRAS), and Professor of American History at the Department of British and American Studies, Nanzan University, Japan. Professor Kawashima obtained his Litt.D. at Kyoto University, Japan, and has been researching and publishing on American history for over 30 years.

Inhalt
INTRODUCTION: The Invention of Race in the Modern World System.- PART I: Exploring the Past.- Slavery and the Early Development of America.- From the Abolition to Jim Crow.- The Attainment of Equality under the Law.- PART II: Post Movement Days to the Present.- From the War on Poverty to the Quota System.- New Immigrants and the Underclass.- Reverse Discrimination and Color-Blind Racism.- PART III: From an Unceasing Struggle with the Past Toward a Fairer Future.- A Retreat from the Street to the Courthouse and Prison?.- Toward a New Affirmative Action in a More Diversified Society.- CONCLUSION: In Search of a New Coalition for the Future. <p