This is the new, fully updated edition of this now-classic study of working-class racism. Combining classical Marxism, psychoanalysis and the new labor history pioneered by E. P. Thompson and Herbert Gutman, David Roediger's widely acclaimed book provides an original study of the formative years of working-class racism in the United States. This, he argues, cannot be explained simply with reference to economic advantage; rather, white working-class racism is underpinned by a complex series of psychological and ideological mechanisms that reinforce racial stereotypes, and thus help to forge the identities of white workers in opposition to blacks. In a lengthy new introduction, Roediger surveys recent scholarship on whiteness, and discusses the changing face of labor in the twenty-first century.
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"Roediger's exciting book makes us understand what it means to see oneself as white in a new way. An extremely important and insightful book." - The Nation"
About the Author
David R. Roediger is Kendrick C. Babcock Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His books include Working Toward Whiteness and Towards the Abolition of Whiteness, also from Verso.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book challenges white male racism, proving once again that white males are racist not only when they are affluent, but when they are "working class", a term that bears some scrutiny, because even if a Black person recieves the same wages, they are of course subject to the horrors of racism. When *will* white males ever figure this out???
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.1 out of 5 stars
8 reviews
105 of 117 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Working Definition of Race
29 Jun 2000
By Brad Peters
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
David Roediger examines the growth and social construction of racism as it was related to the working classes of the ninteenth century. His scholarship earned him the Organization of American Historians Merle Curti Prize for US Social History in 1991. This work is brief, but dense in analysis, argument and scholarly interpretations.
The book basically explores how white workers (with an emphasis on Irish Americans) sought after a "wage" for their color, by placing on Black Americans the mantle of "other", objectifying and stratifying blacks into an object of prejudice and discrimination.
After a lengthy discussion of the historiography of labor and race issues, Roediger writes eloquently of the cultural formation of words such as slave, servant, hired hand, freeman, white slave, master and boss. All of which, he argues, were used to diferentiate between blacks and white laborers. He is careful to point out that it was the workers themselves who created the terms as a means to divide the races and elevate whites on the hierarchy of social status. It is a convincing arguement. The text concludes with an enlightening discussion of "black face" and the social struggles of the Irish, whom many felt in the majority viewed as "white negroes."
This book is scholarly and a read that demands one's attention.
76 of 86 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent study of the social concept of race.
3 Mar 1999
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This book tackles the difficult subject of race relations among the working class of America. The time frame for this book is generally fom 1800 through the Civil war, as America was turning from an agricultural society to an industrial society. Slavery was drawing to a close, immigration had increased, and the urban populations of American cities were growing. All of these elements combined to create an urban working class complete with racial tension. Within this context, David R. Roediger defines the attitudes of race and race relation in a manner that is unique to most histories of urban studies. He not only records the developments of a racial identity, but he also examines the reasons why the white community defined itself as well as how the white community defined other groups. This book will probably stir a lot of controversy, but it will also answer many questions. Any historian or urban studies major can benefit form this book, but beyond college level readers, anyone interested in racial identities and racial differences can also appriciate this book.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Necessary Read for all American Historians
27 Dec 2008
By rusty
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Let it be said from the outset that Roediger is an American Labor Historian, and although this is a book about race, it is also a book about the way class and race are so intertwined. I think it is somewhat amusing that so many people find Roediger racist against whites, I don't think he is: he is more interested in the way race and class became nearly unified concepts in the formation of the American Working Class during the nineteenth century. As Roediger points out, Working class became in many ways, white working class: which is no suprise considering that most works of labor history before the 1960s (and even most afterwards) concerned themselves only with white men. This of course leads to a minor fault in his work: gender is not fully considered (but at 180 pages, this is understandable). Dana Frank's "Purchasing Power" would be a good work to get a small glimpse of that peice of the puzzle.
Overall, a great work of historical scholarship that should be read by every serious historian.
Overall, a great work of historical scholarship that should be read by every serious historian.
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3.1 out of 5 stars
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