Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class Illustrated Edition

by Ian Haney López (Author)

433 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0190229252

ISBN-10: 019022925X

Why is ISBN important?

Share <Embed>

Other Sellers

from

Other Sellers

See all 8 versions

Used: Good | Details

Sold by SoReal Treasures

Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery: Friday, Dec 17 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Details

Fastest delivery: Thursday, Dec 16
Order within 3 hrs and 3 mins Details

Arrives before Christmas

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Available at a lower price from other sellers that may not offer free Prime shipping.

List Price: $17.95 Details

Save: $2.37 (13%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery: Friday, Dec 17 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Details

Fastest delivery: Tuesday, Dec 14
Order within 3 hrs and 3 mins Details

Arrives before Christmas

Available at a lower price from other sellers that may not offer free Prime shipping.

Campaigning for president in 1980, Ronald Reagan told stories of Cadillac-driving "welfare queens" and "strapping young bucks" buying T-bone steaks with food stamps. In trumpeting these tales of welfare run amok, Reagan never needed to mention race, because he was blowing a dog whistle:
sending a message about racial minorities inaudible on one level, but clearly heard on another. In doing so, he tapped into a long political tradition that started with George Wallace and Richard Nixon, and is more relevant than ever in the age of the Tea Party and the first black president.

In Dog Whistle Politics, Ian Haney López offers a sweeping account of how politicians and plutocrats deploy veiled racial appeals to persuade white voters to support policies that favor the extremely rich yet threaten their own interests. Dog whistle appeals generate middle-class enthusiasm for
political candidates who promise to crack down on crime, curb undocumented immigration, and protect the heartland against Islamic infiltration, but ultimately vote to slash taxes for the rich, give corporations regulatory control over industry and financial markets, and aggressively curtail social
services. White voters, convinced by powerful interests that minorities are their true enemies, fail to see the connection between the political agendas they support and the surging wealth inequality that takes an increasing toll on their lives. The tactic continues at full force, with the
Republican Party using racial provocations to drum up enthusiasm for weakening unions and public pensions, defunding public schools, and opposing health care reform.

Rejecting any simple story of malevolent and obvious racism, Haney López links as never before the two central themes that dominate American politics today: the decline of the middle class and the Republican Party's increasing reliance on white voters. Dog Whistle Politics will generate a lively and
much-needed debate about how racial politics has destabilized the American middle class-white and nonwhite members alike.

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Ian Haney López
59
Hardcover
54 offers from $12.07
Ian Haney López
133
Paperback
56 offers from $7.50
Heather McGhee
3,178
Hardcover
69 offers from $15.00
Richard Rothstein
14,554
Paperback
in Housing & Urban Development Law
123 offers from $5.29
Carol Anderson
4,097
Paperback
113 offers from $4.22
Richard Delgado
1,445
Paperback
in Jurisprudence
45 offers from $16.45

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Ian Haney López
59
Hardcover
54 offers from $12.07
Ian Haney López
133
Paperback
56 offers from $7.50
Carol Anderson
4,097
Paperback
113 offers from $4.22
Richard Rothstein
14,554
Paperback
in Housing & Urban Development Law
123 offers from $5.29
Heather McGhee
3,178
Hardcover
69 offers from $15.00
Richard Delgado
1,445
Paperback
in Jurisprudence
45 offers from $16.45

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is one of those books that should be required reading for anyone and everyone who is struggling to understand how and why political elites succeed, time and again, in persuading poor and working class whites to support regressive policies that are a boon for corporations but actually harm them
and wreck the middle class. The answer to the riddle has far more to do with race than most want to acknowledge. But it isn't old-fashioned, malevolent racism that's to blame. No, as Haney López brilliantly and painstakingly lays bare, what is unraveling our nation is not bad people, but a stubborn
refusal to deal openly and honestly with the reality of how race operates today." --Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

"Read this book to understand how dog whistle politics enables the wealth gap to stay the same and even to get worse not just for blacks or other people of color but for the white working class as well. As Haney López demonstrates, the vocabulary of race has changed. Nonetheless, race is still
skillfully used to distract our attention from ongoing and pernicious disparities in economic opportunities." --Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor, Harvard Law School, and author of The Miner's Canary

"A brilliant guide to modern politics, for anyone who wants to understand how outright racist appeals morphed into the genteel rhetoric of 'states rights' and from there into today's 'defund Obamacare' -- and why Democrats too often collude in rather than repudiate dog whistle politics." --Joan
Walsh, Salon.com and MSNBC, and author of What's the Matter With White People

"Grounded in history rather than theory, this is recommended to readers engaged in today's political discourse." --Library Journal

About the Author

Ian Haney López is the John H. Boalt Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. An incisive voice on race and identity since the publication of his path-breaking book White by Law (1996), he remains at the forefront of conversations about racial politics in modern America. He has
been a visiting professor at both Yale and Harvard Law Schools.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Illustrated edition (March 1, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 019022925X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0190229252
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.2 x 1 x 6.1 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #149,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5 in Civil Rights
- #30 in Political History (Books)
- #206 in History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
433 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Ian Haney López

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Ian Haney López was born and raised in Hawaii to a father from Washington (the Haney part) and a mother from El Salvador (the López side). He teaches constitutional law at the University of California, Berkeley, and has a special interest in how racism has evolved over the last five decades. In “Dog Whistle Politics” (2014), Ian explained the tactics used by the Republican Party since Richard Nixon to win votes by stoking racial anxiety, thereby tilling the ground for Donald Trump. In his most recent book, “Merge Left,” he shows how to neutralize coded racism in politics and build a multiracial progressive future. Ian holds an endowed chair as the Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Customer reviews

5 star		73%
4 star		16%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

B. D. Raynor

An insightful analysis of the ascendance of racism as the political tool of the 1%

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2017

Verified Purchase

A detailed examination of primarily Republican Party manipulation of political messaging to gain control of the government to enrich the 1%. In the process, they changed dominant social thinking from a belief in a government that cared for the whole population into one that blames individuals for their social circumstances and seeks to pull the rug out from under the "undeserving". Their message has been effective, synergistic with the rise of the "me" generation. Our 45th president is the successful culmination of this political realignment. Far from being an outsider, Trump is the dream of Republican financial elites. As an unwitting tool, he has come to plunder the middle and working classes for maximum loot for himself while dragging into government a gang of pirates to do the same. They have cast minorities as the enemy, blinding supporters to the commonality of their plight as fellow victims of the super rich. This is a must read for those who want America to finally fulfill the promise of equality and justice for all.

20 people found this helpful

Helpful

Ol' Flawriduh Cracker

Genuine Insight on What Drives the Divide In America

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2021

Verified Purchase

If you love Trump this is one book you want to avoid like COVID-19. On the other hand, this is why Haney's work is a MUST READ for Trumpers and all of us.

In my inglorious career I must have heard my co-workers (especially New Yorkers for some reason) retell the Reagan meme of the "Welfare Queen." Perhaps the most quintessential example of "Dog Whistling" racism that like a brain eating zombie seems unstoppable. Important to note here that the whole thing was of course a fabrication.

Ian Haney Lopez (you'll see why he is the endowed chair as the Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at UC Berkeley) takes you through genuine understanding of the evil genius in the creation and pervasive use of "Dog Whistling" as an effective, cynical, and persistent tool of the far right (I prefer fascist loving) Republicans to not only use this as a means to churn racism and a sense of aggrievement, but to literally cripple the working class to act against their own best interests.

So, please buy this book and use the methods he provides to put this ugly tactic into the dustbin of history.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

gjhaggerty

I had a much better understanding regarding the things that I hear from the ...

Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2015

Verified Purchase

As a black person, this black person this book connected many dots for me. After reading this book, I had a much better understanding regarding the things that I hear from the political world on a daily basis. This book should be required reading for seniors in high school. I want to give it to my daughter, but she's only in the 7th grade. As Americans, we have to open our minds, open our eyes and put this country to work for all Americans. Whether we believe it or not, there is enough to go around.

37 people found this helpful

Helpful

invisibleTop Contributor: The Lord of the Rings

He spins a good yarn, but a yarn nevertheless.

Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2018

Verified Purchase

I bought this book for much the same reason that I like to have on DVR an episode of "Ancient Aliens", enjoy movies about ghost hunters and liked "The Blair Witch Project": I enjoy a good story and often a good pseudo-history just fills that need for pleasurable reading.

He writes like a good lawyer. If you want to find a well reasoned a priori argument which may or may not be congruent with reality, consult a good lawyer. Examples might be if you want to misdirect the jury after you've just murdered your wife and her lover or if you want to misdirect Congress after you’ve been caught with a 22 year old intern. Or, more mundanely, if you are a student of human nature and you want insight into how bright people concoct historical fiction stories. This book doesn't analyze modern society; it syntheses a story about it. It becomes grating once one realizes just how much is synthesis.

I do like his catchy phrase 'dog whistle politics'. It immediately puts one to mind of the now-dated movie where the villain whistles up a pack of Dobermans which then threaten to eat the hero. He sort of ruins the illusion however when he cherry picks (I hate that phrase, cherry picking, since it is way overused in Amazon reviews, particularly those one-sentence ax jobs) his stories, filters them through his own prejudices and ignores other equally catchy phrases such as 'victimhood politics', 'revolutionary dialectic', et cetera. But I fear he leaves as much history on the cutting room floor as did Michael Moore at his apex. Gone too is any semblance of explanation of how, in the absence of any objective biological basis for our sociological construct 'race', can the abstraction of that construction which we call 'racism' be anything except subjective?

My review is negative in large part because there are misdirections which thread their way throughout the book, just as a lawyer would misdirect a jury from the facts of his case. For the sake of brevity I'll mention only the most egregious ones: He conflates the effect of "wealthy" conservative contributors and ignores the short list of the world's richest people, 'progressives' all, who collectively own more wealth than half the people in the world. He presents too many false dichotomies, false equivalencies, straw man arguments and other rhetorical tricks. The analyses he presents appear at times to me to be superficial, not substantially based on human nature nor psychology except for the psychology of persuasion. Just as often they appear tangential to his central point but designed to impugn his political enemies.

For the reader who is struggling with understanding the incongruence between the language of the book's historical vignettes and traditional language I'd recommend a small but powerful book, Crane Brinton's 1938 text "The Anatomy of Revolution". Here they will find a logical structure with which they can deconstruct the meaning of revolutionary rhetoric. For the psychologically minded reader interested in understanding the book's curb appeal I'd suggest Jackson and Richardson's "Understanding African American Rhetoric". For the reader who senses the intrinsic emotional exploitation of their fears and nightmares but doesn't have words for it I'd recommend Jack Schafer's "The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over". For the reader interested in a critique of leftist academia from within its fold there is Tony Scott's "Dangerous Writing". And the reader who is interested in exploring the concept that the belief in racial identity is a damaging factor in the lives of real people should review the works of John Ogbu.

14 people found this helpful

Helpful

Pat S

Powerful; direct; instructional; unnerving

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2016

Verified Purchase

I have not read a book, until this one, that spoke so clearly to what I have felt has been happening on both sides of the political spectrum for a long time in our country. I had concluded that people of color had become the public whipping boy for all the ills of the country, though I suspected many of those ills were created by the powerful moneyed class that enabled their drive toward greater wealth. This book does a great job of describing the historical context of the rise of the plutocrats. It also addresses what needs to be done to wrestle the country's future back "FOR ALL THE PEOPLE".

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

ArikB

Great references and excellent points. A very insightful book.

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2020

Verified Purchase

I thought this book was very good in explaining dog whistle politics and how they have evolved in our society. There are great references in the book. I took me longer to read this book, because I also read several of the references which were excellent. I think this book is a must read for all, but particularly white Americans.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

ogilvie

serious but difficult

Reviewed in Canada on November 19, 2021

Verified Purchase

After a shaky start, the thorough research in this volume likely warrants deeming it the go-to source on the subject. Haney Lopez writes like a lawyer: exhaustively, in a way that often seems repetitious. The pattern in the narrative is a dense bit of explanation and analysis, followed by diffuse illustration and drawn-out demonstration of his claims. Still, the sum-total of the most incisive parts is substantial.

lerone

Trump's words

Reviewed in Canada on August 31, 2018

Verified Purchase

the times we live in. The politics of colour

See all reviews

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Ian Haney López
59
Hardcover
54 offers from $12.07
Ian Haney López
133
Paperback
56 offers from $7.50
Heather McGhee
3,178
Hardcover
69 offers from $15.00
Carol Anderson
4,097
Paperback
113 offers from $4.22
Theodore Dwight Weld
256
Paperback
42 offers from $2.05
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
233
Paperback
40 offers from $25.73

Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class Illustrated Edition

Buy used: $13.96

Buy new: $15.58

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

About the author

Ian Haney López

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Customers who bought this item also bought

Buy used:

$13.96

Buy new:

$15.58