Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgements
- A personal note
- Foreword by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
- one Introduction: race as disadvantage
- two White privilege
- three Not white enough
- four Intersectionality: gender, race and class
- five Race, schooling and exclusion
- six Higher education, race and representation
- seven Racism and bullying in the UK
- eight Racial inequalities in the labour market
- nine Wealth, poverty and inequality
- ten Conclusions: race, social justice and equality
- Notes
- References
- Index
one - Introduction: race as disadvantage
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 April 2023
- Frontmatter
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgements
- A personal note
- Foreword by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
- one Introduction: race as disadvantage
- two White privilege
- three Not white enough
- four Intersectionality: gender, race and class
- five Race, schooling and exclusion
- six Higher education, race and representation
- seven Racism and bullying in the UK
- eight Racial inequalities in the labour market
- nine Wealth, poverty and inequality
- ten Conclusions: race, social justice and equality
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
This book focusses on exploring how race operates as a form of disadvantage in modern-day society. It argues that individuals from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, by virtue of their racial identity, are positioned as outsiders in a society that values whiteness and ‘white privilege’. The main argument of the book is that within a neoliberal context policy making in its attempt to be inclusive has portrayed an image of a post-racial society, when in reality vast inequalities between white and black and minority ethnic communities continue to exist. Policy making has exacerbated rather than addressed the inequalities which result from processes of racism, exclusion and marginalisation in which white identities are prioritised and privileged above all others.
The concept of neoliberalism is a contested and complex term that generally refers to the systemic privileging of a ‘free market’ as the mechanism best suited to manage the movement of all capital, goods and services, including services that would conventionally be understood to be public services. Neoliberalism is therefore associated with the drive to privatise public services such as education and healthcare and the disposal of assets owned by the state to private investors. While critics of neoliberal policies often portray such movements as the erosion of a ‘public’ or ‘common’ good, neoliberals would suggest such marketisation fosters greater individualism and responsibility. This book will explore how policy making within a neoliberal context works to protect whiteness and disadvantage those from black and minority ethnic groups.
What is neoliberalism?
The concept of neoliberalism has been used in different ways but it has mainly been incorporated into economic frameworks, policies and thinking. In some respects neoliberalism can be understood as a type of liberalism. Olssen states:
neoliberalism reinforces many of the central axioms of classical liberalism. It reinforces those pertaining to the relations between the individual and society, the conception of freedom, the view of the self as a rational utility maximiser, the view of the distinction between public and private spheres as separate, and the rejection of any conception of a public good over and above the aggregate sum of individual ends.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- White PrivilegeThe Myth of a Post-Racial Society, pp. 1 - 8Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2018