Two-Faced Racism examines and explains the racial attitudes and behaviours exhibited by whites in private settings. While there are many books that deal with public attitudes, behaviours, and incidences concerning race and racism (frontstage), there are few studies on the attitudes whites display among friends, family, and other whites in private settings (backstage). The core of this book draws upon 626 journals of racial events kept by white college students at twenty-eight colleges in the United States. The book seeks to comprehend how whites think in racial terms by analyzing their reported racial events.
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About the Author
Joe R. Feagin is professor in the facutly of arts at Texas A & M and author of numerous books, including White Racism and Systemic Racism.
Dr. Leslie Houts Picca is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio. She received her Ph.D. in sociology and women’s studies and gender research graduate certificate from the University of Florida. Dr. Picca’s areas of special interest are race and ethnicities, structures of privilege (especially whiteness), and the sociology of sexualities. In early 2007, she added her expertise to a vigorous national discussion of racism among white college students, and was quoted in more than 160 media outlets. Dr. Picca has been interviewed by the Associated Press, Inside Higher Education and CNN's Paula Zahn, among others, about racism.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By E. John
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I found myself carrying this book around even after I'd read it once. Was it because people would ask me about it (mainly black people)? Was it because I wanted white people to think about the subject? Was it because it gave me immunity when I experienced covert racism and called people on it?
ALL OF THE ABOVE, and more! I kept re-reading parts and quoting from it; it was better to have the book handy to look up the quotes.
This was a great study and is a wonderful book.
ALL OF THE ABOVE, and more! I kept re-reading parts and quoting from it; it was better to have the book handy to look up the quotes.
This was a great study and is a wonderful book.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By Ernest
Format:Paperback
Occasionally in the U.S. media, one reads articles about whites making racist comments about racial minorities in areas that are considered to be private, such as racist statements made by senior Texaco executives at a 1994 meeting or Senate majority leader Harry Reid stating that President Obama had a chance of winning because he was both "light-skinned" and didn't speak with a "negro dialect", or a Harvard Law student sending an e-mail asserting that blacks, on average, are less intelligent. However, this book "Two-Faced Racism" demonstrates that these are not random, isolated incidents but represent a wide spread phenomenon among many whites where they present a color-blind public front while in private settings they reveal the racist views they hold towards people of color. The authors of the book, as part of an extra credit assignment, has 626 white students in colleges and universities throughout the United States write the racial incidents they view over the course of a school semester. To avoid an over reporting of racial incidents and to get a full account of the racism they observe, the students are not graded on the number of incidents they report but rather on the content and quality of their writing. Moreover, the authors decide to focus on white college students since they are considered to be progressive on racial matters and will become the future leaders and professionals of American society. At the end of the semester, the students report 7500 racist incidents against people of color with the overwhelming targets being black Americans. While this is not a random sample, the authors estimate that millions of these types of racist incidents occur during the course of a year.
The authors note that in public (or as they call "front stage") settings, whites students display a range of behavior toward racial minorities such as acting overly nice, avoiding contact with racial minorities (e.g. crossing a street or not going to a particular bar or club), trying to mimic "black mannerisms and speech", avoiding the use of racial labels and using code words to talk negatively about minorities in areas where minorities may be present and occasionally violence. In private setting (or as they call "back stage") settings, white students often use humor to reinforce racial stereotypes about minorities, particularly black Americans while occasionally using blatant racist speech. This book explores front stage and back stage settings, what happens when an intruder or someone who is "not really white" is a party to the back stage, what happens when a white stranger enters a back stage discussion on race and what happens when there are dissenters to the racist speech. The author notes that the purpose of these back stage performances are to create white group solidarity and to reinforce the ideology of white and male supremacy.
While many contemporary books about racism focus on the systemic impact, many books do not explore how contemporary racism is perpetuated on an individual level under the current era of color-blind racism. This book explores how whites act on an individual level to preserve white supremacy. I thought this was an excellent read in order to discover how racism is enacted and perpetuated by individual whites. This book may be shocking to some reader who believe that the United States is finally post-race (in fact, the authors report that many of the college students were surprised at number of racist comments and incidents they observe). But it is to be aware of this problem if we are going to address and correct it. I highly recommend this book.
The authors note that in public (or as they call "front stage") settings, whites students display a range of behavior toward racial minorities such as acting overly nice, avoiding contact with racial minorities (e.g. crossing a street or not going to a particular bar or club), trying to mimic "black mannerisms and speech", avoiding the use of racial labels and using code words to talk negatively about minorities in areas where minorities may be present and occasionally violence. In private setting (or as they call "back stage") settings, white students often use humor to reinforce racial stereotypes about minorities, particularly black Americans while occasionally using blatant racist speech. This book explores front stage and back stage settings, what happens when an intruder or someone who is "not really white" is a party to the back stage, what happens when a white stranger enters a back stage discussion on race and what happens when there are dissenters to the racist speech. The author notes that the purpose of these back stage performances are to create white group solidarity and to reinforce the ideology of white and male supremacy.
While many contemporary books about racism focus on the systemic impact, many books do not explore how contemporary racism is perpetuated on an individual level under the current era of color-blind racism. This book explores how whites act on an individual level to preserve white supremacy. I thought this was an excellent read in order to discover how racism is enacted and perpetuated by individual whites. This book may be shocking to some reader who believe that the United States is finally post-race (in fact, the authors report that many of the college students were surprised at number of racist comments and incidents they observe). But it is to be aware of this problem if we are going to address and correct it. I highly recommend this book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Arnie Tracey
Format:Paperback
An at-times-preachy peek behind the fake poker faces of Americans (white America). The solicited diaries of college students, as they journalize the congenital racist backstage antics of their friends, strangers, families and co-workers.
To paraphrase Homer Simpson: Sad because it's true.
The road to national perdition passes through this centuries old, socially sanctioned, utterly normalized mental-illness.
Great read--Highly recommended for one and all.
To paraphrase Homer Simpson: Sad because it's true.
The road to national perdition passes through this centuries old, socially sanctioned, utterly normalized mental-illness.
Great read--Highly recommended for one and all.
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