Description
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 US. This, he argues, can’t be explained simply on the subject of economic advantage; somewhat, white working-class racism is underpinned by a complex series of psychological and ideological mechanisms that fortify racial stereotypes, and thus assist to forge the identities of white workers in opposition to Blacks.
In a new preface, Roediger reflects at the reception, influence, and very important response to The Wages of Whiteness, even as Kathleen Cleaver’s insightful introduction hails the importance of a work that has turn out to be a classic.