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

by Ian Haney López (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 560 ratings
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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.
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  1. ISBN-10
    019022925X
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0190229252
  3. Edition
    Reprint
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    March 1, 2015
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6.1 x 0.9 x 9.1 inches
  8. Print length
    304 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

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"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

Book Description

A powerful history of how politicians have used coded racial appeals to demonize nonwhites, tarnish liberalism, and pursue an agenda of greed

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (March 1, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 019022925X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0190229252
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 0.9 x 9.1 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 560 ratings

About the author

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Ian Haney López

Ian Haney López

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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

4.6 out of 5 stars
560 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book informative, fascinating, and well-researched. They describe the writing quality as engaging, terrific, and lucid. Readers say the book heightens their sensitivity and opens their eyes to disturbing undercurrents. They also mention it's eye-opening, illuminating, and brilliant.

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Thought provokingWriting qualitySensitivityEye-openingReadability
62 customers mention "Thought provoking"62 positive0 negative

Customers find the book informative, fascinating, and well-researched. They appreciate the great references and how it works to explain how political thinking and decisions are inseparably entwined in race. Readers mention the book provides a carefully researched history lesson on how George Wallace's soft-porn racism turned. They say it's an uneven but ultimately informative account and a call to action to address racism.

"Dog Whistle Politics is an extremely important book...." Read more

"...We have here a provocative examination of coded racial appeals in politics. Can you hear the whistle blow?" Read more

"An uneven but ultimately informative account and call to action to address the racism that provides the foundation for much of today's American..." Read more

"...Lopez provides a carefully researched history lesson on how George Wallace's soft-porn racism turned into the GOP's Southern Strategy -- a fact that..." Read more

23 customers mention "Writing quality"17 positive6 negative

Customers find the writing quality of the book engaging, terrific, and lucid. They say the author's reasoned tone makes the subject of race in America seem less depressing. Readers also mention the book is clear, concise, accessible, and provides powerful and useful information.

"...The writing is excellent, the research is detailed, and the subject matter could not be more important...." Read more

"...Well researched but written in a scholarly manner, I did not find the book an easy read, but extremely worthwhile...." Read more

"...This book certainly writes from a particular perspective, and as a liberal minded person I agree with its goals, it also opened my eyes to how I..." Read more

"...I think this book is a must read for all, but particularly white Americans." Read more

7 customers mention "Sensitivity"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book perceptive, thought-provoking, and mind-changing. They say it's unnerving, interesting, and terrifying.

"...I loved this book. It will open your eyes and heighten your sensitivity when these coded racist messages are used for strategic political advantage." Read more

"...writer, and his explanation is lucid, fascinating and of course terrifying for what it so clearly predicted: the rise of the soulless Trump oligarchy..." Read more

"Perceptive analysis of disturbing undercurrents in present-day politics, and life in general...." Read more

"Ear opening observations allowing many of us to hear on new levels. The victims of prejudice understand the content very well, I am sure." Read more

6 customers mention "Eye-opening"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book eye-opening, illuminating, and brilliant. They say it offers a realistic view of a very provasive problem.

"...Through an eye-opening and fascinating discussion, López resists current notions about a supposedly “post-racial” age and shows us, undeniably..." Read more

"I chose this book because it offered a realistic view of a very provasiveproblem in our society at large...." Read more

"...already but it does provide historical prospective and delves into the subtle details of the issue and explains the psychology of dog whistle..." Read more

"Brilliant look at the changing role of race in mid to late 20th century politics. Must read." Read more

5 customers mention "Readability"0 positive5 negative

Customers find the book boring, depressing, and redundant.

"Not a fun read but then this is serious stuff...." Read more

"Great information, but too long and redundant. It should be rewritten and condensed to 250 pages." Read more

"I had to read this for a class... I cannot stand it. It was so boring" Read more

"Horrible book very depressing. I need something uplifting." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

S. Freeman
5.0 out of 5 stars More relevant today than when originally written
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2023
Verified Purchase
Dog Whistle Politics is an extremely important book. Written during the Trump presidency, it clearly explains how racism is hard baked into U.S. society, and how this enables candidates--Republicans primarily, but Democrats too--to make covert racist appeals. Republicans have become masters of this, appealing to racist "bones" in the body politic that many people do not even realize they have. We think we know ourselves, but there always is much ingrained within us we do not realize until some occurrence causes us to confront some ingrained aspect of our being.

Most people probably believe they are not racists, but we also have a lot of people who clearly are racists who work hard to hide their racism because overt racism no longer is accepted in our society. For those of us who sincerely believe we are not racist, a little close examination can reveal racist tendencies we never realized we had. "Dog Whistle Politics" can help us with that self examination, and with rooting out those racist tendencies if we genuinely want to rid ourselves of any manifestations of racism.

We have come a long way since the days of "legal" segregation and "Jim Crowe" society. But we still have a very long way to go, and Mr. Lopez makes this crystal clear with his very thorough examination of how "dog whistles" are used to manipulate people.

That Trump is a racist is so obvious it needs no explanation. Consequently, the best chapters are those showing how Democrats, particularly Bill and Hillary Clinton, use covert racist appeals to further their political ambitions. Also, Mr. Lopez' discussion of President Obama makes clear his election did not mean we had entered a "post racial" society. In fact, Mr. Lopez clearly explains how dog whistle politics shaped Obama's political career and probably tempered his policies and programs from the very beginning. It would be fair to say President Obama (my words not Mr. Lopez') was timid throughout his political career.

In sum, "Dog Whistle Politics" is a must read for anyone who wants us to achieve that ideal of a genuinely post racial society where everyone is judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.
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Randolph Eck
5.0 out of 5 stars A provocative study of coded racial appeals
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2016
Verified Purchase
Before reading this book, I never heard of the phrase “Dog Whistle Politics.” I’ll quote the author in providing you with a description of what this means. Lopez informs us that it “explains how politicians backed by concentrated wealth manipulate racial appeals to win elections and also to win support for regressive policies that help corporations and the super-rich, and in the process wreck the middle class.” The interesting thing is that this jujitsu of dog whistling is a new way of talking about race, which emphasizes racial divisions while denying it has done any such thing. It is like speaking in a coded way to the audience.

In the book, the author discusses the GOP as the “white man’s party” and something he calls strategic racism, before delving into the terms of Reagan, Clinton, and Bush and how this type of politics played out in their respective terms in office. In chapter four, the author discusses the topic of colorblindness which utilizes “understandings of race and racism that obscure discrimination against nonwhites and magnify the ostensible mistreatment of whites.” Later on, we learn that even though the pervasive use of epithets has mostly disappeared, we still have the coded racial messages that reference culture, behavior, and class. Here again we see the dog whistle blowing – more coded racial appeals. A chapter is devoted to the Tea Party and Romney where we see a surge in dog whistle politics in the Tea Party, and how Romney “conjoined racial demagoguery and robber baron politics” according to the author. Later on in the book, the author asks the question: “What’s the matter with white voters.” We are shown just how right-wing race-baiting can manipulate large segments of the white population into voting in a way that actually wreaks the middle class. Before concluding the book, Lopez discusses Obama’s strategy regarding these issues.

In the concluding chapter, the author shows us how waiting out the problem has not worked, and provides us with recommendations for liberal politicians, civil rights organizations, progressive foundations, unions, and individuals. We have here a provocative examination of coded racial appeals in politics. Can you hear the whistle blow?
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

l howard
5.0 out of 5 stars Trump's words
Reviewed in Canada on August 31, 2018
Verified Purchase
the times we live in. The politics of colour
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ogilvie
4.0 out of 5 stars serious but difficult
Reviewed in Canada on November 20, 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.
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