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The New Politics of Race: Globalism, Difference, Justice. By Howard Winant. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004; pp ix + 275. $19.95 paper.
Modern society was established and structured on white supremacy and the exploitation of the racial "other." Deplorably, argues Howard Winant in his new book The New Politics of Race: Globalism, Difference, Justice, while making significant progress toward equality following World War II, a global system of racism and subjugation remains. Throughout the text's 14 essays, Winant argues vehemently against what he considers to be the prevalent belief that the United States and much of the Western world have become "colorblind" or have somehow progressed "beyond" race.
Taking on the challenge of explaining how the old patterns of racism have resulted in a "new" racial politics, theory, and existence,Winant sets out a series of objectives for his book. In it he attempts to "reframe racial theory, to untangle the dynamics of a world racial system that has undergone a comprehensive crisis and reorganization over the past few decades, to understand U.S. racial politics in a global context, and to situate the racial 'politics of experience' in the context of a new, and highly sophisticated, global hegemony" (x). While confessing that addressing all of these objectives may be beyond his...