The Matrix of Race

Social Construction, Intersectionality, and Inequality

NEW TO THIS EDITION:

• Every chapter from the First Edition has been thoroughly revised to reflect the latest research and current events.
• Part II includes a new chapter on race in the context of the Media and Communication Technologies.
• The Conclusion from the First Edition has been expanded into a final chapter examining contemporary social movements and new narratives about race that are challenging the status quo.
• The new edition is available as a digital option through SAGE Vantage, an intuitive digital platform that offers auto-graded assignments and interactive multimedia tools—including video—all designed to enable students to better prepare for class.

• The text is written by a trio of diverse race scholars who blend their distinct personal backgrounds, teaching experiences, and research interests.
• Unlike many texts, The Matrix of Race is organized around the social institutions where race is lived and experienced, rather than the examination of individual groups.

• A historical perspective throughout allows students to see how race has been shaped, maintained and transformed at multiple points across time.

• The “Matrix” framework helps readers see the complexity and dynamic aspects of race, and incorporates a number of important theories and perspectives throughout:
  
  • Race is socially constructed—it changes from one place to another and across time.
  • Race is intersectional—it is embedded in other socially-constructed categories of difference like ethnicity, gender, social class, ethnicity, and sexuality.
  • There are two sides to race—oppression and privilege—and many of us experience forms of both.
  • It is more useful to focus on the structures of society than to blame individuals for racial inequality

• The text emphasizes the powerful role of narrative in the social construction of race and difference, using four different types of stories:
  
  • Stock stories told mainly by the dominant group.
  • Concealed stories that reveal hidden truths about race.
  • Resistance stories that directly challenge the status quo.
  • Transforming stories that offer a vision of a racial justice.