What We Now Know About Race and Ethnicity

Michael Banton (1926-2018) taught social anthroplogy in the University of Edinburgh 1954-65; political science in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1962-63; and sociology in the University of Bristol 1965-92. He was President of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 1987-89, and from 1986 to 2001 a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Chairman, 1996-98).

“Banton’s s book is very thought-provoking: it made me think harder about the theoretical aspects of race and ethnicity than most books I have read recently on the topic. His willingness to challenge taken-for-granted theoretical stances is very bracing. There is also a lot of interesting information in this concise book, including material on the history of race and ethnicity studies that is highly relevant to understanding the field, but is often overlooked these days. His impressive mastery of the field gives readers a very informative and synthetic long and broad view, along with a coherent critique, which while it engages specialist academic also suits the book for an undergraduate audience.” • Anthropos

• PrefaceIntroduction: The ParadoxChapter 1. The Scientific Sources of the ParadoxTwo dimensionsTaxonomyTypologyDarwin and MendelTwo VocabulariesThe Power of the Ordinary Language Construct Chapter 2. The Political Sources of the ParadoxSocial Categories and Their NamesAfter the Civil WarDiscriminationThe ‘One-Drop’ RuleCounter Trends Chapter 3. International PragmatismThe Racial ConventionImplementing the ConventionOther International ActionNaming the Categories Chapter 4. Sociological KnowledgeTheoretical or Practical?The Chicago SchoolIn World PerspectiveSocial Race? Chapter 5. Conceptions of RacismWriting HistoryTeaching PhilosophyTeaching SociologySociological TextbooksPolitical Ends Chapter 6. Ethnic Origin and EthnicityCensus categoriesAnthropologyA New Reality?NomenclatureSociobiologyEthnic Origin as a Social SignComparative PoliticsThe Current Sociology of Ethnicity Chapter 7. Collective ActionThe Rediscovery of Weber’s 1911 NotesFour PropositionsClosureThe Human Capital VariableThe Colour VariableEthnic PreferencesOpening relationships Conclusion: The Paradox ResolvedSelect BibliographyIndex