Book Description

The Fallacy of Difference: Racial Reality, Inequality, and Social Change provides students with diverse readings on racial ideologies, theories, and the social construction of race in American society with particular focus on historical treatments of minority groups and their response to social and racial injustice. This anthology considers the major theories on race from a historical perspective and helps students understand the impact of racial ideologies on American society. The first section of the book features readings devoted to the social construction of race. The readings in the second portion of the book explore racial history, identity, and politics. The third and final section contains readings that closely examine racial equality. The sections and readings feature pre-reading questions to help stimulate critical thinking and further discussion. The Fallacy of Difference is well-suited for courses that focus on racial and ethnic relations, as well as those that explore the social problems of race and ethnicity. Marci Bounds Littlefield is an associate professor in sociology and ethnic studies at the Borough of Manhattan Community College CUNY. She received a masters in public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson Graduate School of Public Affairs and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin. Her areas of specialization include race and ethnicity, gender, and family. She has publications on Black women in the media, their role as mothers, and gender and racial groups as a source of support for domestic violence. She also has authored several publications on the role of the African American church in community and economic development. Her most recent research looks at the visual culture of the Civil War and sexuality and Black women in the 19th century.