Getting Smart about Race

Margaret L. Andersen (Ph.D., M.A. University of Massachusetts, Amherst; B.A. Georgia State University) is the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor Emerita at the University of Delaware. She is the author of several books, including her just published book: Race in Society: The Enduring American Dilemma, as well as Thinking about Women, soon to bepublished in its eleventh edition; the best-selling anthology, Race, Class and Gender (co-edited with Patricia Hill Collins; soon to be published in its 10th ed.), Race and Ethnicity in Society: The Changing Landscape (co-edited with Elizabeth Higginbotham; 4th edition), Sociology: The Essentials (co-authored, Howard F. Taylor, 10th ed.), Living Art: The Life of African American Art Collector Paul Jones; and, On Land and On Sea: A Century of Women in the Rosenfeld Collection. She has received two teaching awards from the University of Delaware and two prestigious awards from her professional organizations: The Eastern Sociological Society Merit Award for career contributions and the American Sociological Association’s Jessie Bernard Award, an award given for expanding the boundaries of sociology to include women. In 2017, she was granted an honorary doctorate from the University of Delaware in recognition of her scholarship, teaching, and service.

In Getting Smart about Race, Margaret Andersen provides a lucid and sensitive meditation on racial inequality, analyzing both the origins of American racism as well our current social and political conflicts. Based on rigorous sociological research, this volume is written in an accessible narrative style and will provoke meaningful conversations about our nation’s future.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Race: A Thoroughly Social Idea Chapter 2: Feeling Race in Everyday Life Chapter 3: Who, Me? I’m Not a Racist, But . . . Chapter 4: What Did You Say? ContestingCommonsense Racism Chapter 5: But That Was Then—I Didn’t HaveAnything to Do with It Chapter 6: Getting Smart about Race, Then DoingSomething about It Appendix A: Finding Common Ground:Questions for Conversation Appendix B: Further Resources Notes Index About the Author