Racial Formation In The United States

Twenty years since the publication of the Second Edition and more than thirty years since the publication of the original book, Racial Formation in the United States now arrives with each chapter radically revised and rewritten by authors Michael Omi and Howard Winant, but the overall purpose and vision of this classic remains the same: Omi and Winant provide an account of how concepts of race are created and transformed, how they become the focus of political conflict, and how they come to shape and permeate both identities and institutions. The steady journey of the U.S. toward a majority nonwhite population, the ongoing evisceration of the political legacy of the early post-World War II civil rights movement, the initiation of the ‘war on terror’ with its attendant Islamophobia, the rise of a mass immigrants rights movement, the formulation of race/class/gender ‘intersectionality’ theories, and the election and reelection of a black President of the United States are some of the many new racial conditions Racial Formation now covers.

Twenty years since the publication of the Second Edition and more than thirty years since the publication of the original book, Racial Formation in the United States now arrives with each chapter radically revised and rewritten by authors Michael Omi and Howard Winant, but the overall purpose and vision of this classic remains the same: Omi and Winant provide an account of how concepts of race are created and transformed, how they become the focus of political conflict, and how they come to shape and permeate both identities and institutions. The steady journey of the U.S. toward a majority nonwhite population, the ongoing evisceration of the political legacy of the early post-World War II civil rights movement, the initiation of the ‘war on terror’ with its attendant Islamophobia, the rise of a mass immigrants rights movement, the formulation of race/class/gender ‘intersectionality’ theories, and the election and reelection of a black President of the United States are some of the many new racial conditions Racial Formation now covers.

Racial Formation in the United States is appearing here in an entirely new edition, 20 years since its last publication. Authors Michael Omi and Howard Winant have maintained the structure and vision of their classic work, but have completely revised and rewritten every chapter. The ambitious purpose of the book remains the same: to develop a theory of race and racism adequate to their complexity, historical depth, and ongoing political importance. Racial Formation explains how concepts of race are created and transformed, how race shapes U.S. society, and how it permeates both identities and institutions....Omi and Winant continue to see race as a fundamental organizing principle of social life, one that deeply structures politics, economics, and culture in the United States. They rethink race as intersectional, ubiquitous, and unstable, continually operating at the crossroads of social structure and identity. Because race is socially constructed and historically conflictual, it is continually being made and remade in everyday life. Race is constantly in formation. (Publisher).

"This collection of essays marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Michael Omi and Howard Winant’s Racial Formation in the United States demonstrates the importance and influence of the concept of racial formation. The range of disciplines, discourses, ideas, and ideologies makes for fascinating reading, demonstrating the utility and applicability of racial formation theory to diverse contexts, while at the same time presenting persuasively original extensions and elaborations of it. This is an important book, one that sums up, analyzes, and builds on some of the most important work in racial studies during the past three decades."—George Lipsitz, author of How Racism Takes Place “Racial Formation in the Twenty-First Century is truly a state-of-the-field anthology, fully worthy of the classic volume it honors—timely, committed, sophisticated, accessible, engaging. The collection will be a boon to anyone wishing to understand the workings of race in the contemporary United States.” —Matthew Frye Jacobson, Professor of American Studies, Yale University “This stimulating and lively collection demonstrates the wide-ranging influence and generative power of Omi and Winant’s racial formation framework. The contributors are leading scholars in fields ranging from the humanities and social sciences to legal and policy studies. They extend the framework into new terrain, including non-U.S. settings, gender and sexual relations, and the contemporary warfare state. While acknowledging the pathbreaking nature of Omi and Winant’s intervention, the contributors do not hesitate to critique what they see as limitations and omissions. This is a must-read for anyone striving to make sense of tensions and contradictions in racial politics in the U.S. and transnationally.”—Evelyn Nakano Glenn, editor of Shades of Difference: Why Skin Color Matters

Discusses racial formation theory, the idea that race is a constructed identity dependent upon social, economic, and political factors.

Relational Formations of Race brings African American, Chicanx/Latinx, Asian American, and Native American studies together in a single volume, enabling readers to consider the racialization and formation of subordinated groups in relation to one another. These essays conceptualize racialization as a dynamic and interactive process; group-based racial constructions are formed not only in relation to whiteness, but also in relation to other devalued and marginalized groups. The chapters offer explicit guides to understanding race as relational across all disciplines, time periods, regions, and social groups. By studying race relationally, and through a shared context of meaning and power, students will draw connections among subordinated groups and will better comprehend the logic that underpins the forms of inclusion and dispossession such groups face. As the United States shifts toward a minority-majority nation, Relational Formations of Race offers crucial tools for understanding today’s shifting race dynamics.

"An excellent summary and interpretation of race relations in nineteenth-century California. Empirically rich and theoretically sophisticated, it is the last and best word on the historical origins of the racial hierarchy that contemporary multiculturalists are struggling to overcome."--George Fredrickson, Stanford University "Sometime soon in the 21st century, all of California's peoples will belong to minorities, and Almaguer's pathbreaking comparative history is indispensable for understanding how and why this society became so racially diverse. His study expands the borders of multicultural scholarship."--Ronald Takaki, University of California, Berkeley "Evocatively written and theoretically compelling, "Racial Fault Lines represents a benchmark in the writing of U.S. history. Almaguer blends sociological paradigms with rich historical narratives in his perspicacious examination of racial and class formation among nineteenth-century Californians. Me

This sweeping work traces the idea of race for more than three centuries to show that 'race' is not a product of science but a cultural invention that has been used variously and opportunistically since the eighteenth century. Updated throughout, the fourth edition of this renowned text includes a compelling new chapter on the health impacts of the racial worldview, as well as a thoroughly rewritten chapter that explores the election of Barack Obama and its implications for the meaning of race in America and the future of our racial ideology.