This book compares contemporary racism in the US and the Netherlands through in-depth interviews with fifty-five black women. As an interdisciplinary analysis of gendered social constructions of racism, it breaks new ground. Essed problematizes and reinterprets many of the meanings and everyday practices that the majority of society has come to take for granted. She addresses crucial but largely neglected dimensions of racism: how it is experienced; how black women recognize its covert manifestations; how they acquire this knowledge; and how they challenge racism in everyday life. To answer these questions, over two thousand experiences of black women are analyzed within a theoretical framework that integrates the disciplines of macro- and micro-sociology, social psychology, discourse analysis, race relations theory and women's studies. The samples include only black women with higher education. Many of their experiences of racism involve the `elite' among the dominant group. The book seriously challenges both the notion of Dutch tolerance and the idea that US racism is a problem of the past. Understanding Everyday Racism is thus urgent reading.
PART ONE: TOWARDS AN INTEGRATION OF MACRO AND MICRO DIMENSIONS OF RACISM Racism Today The Social-political Context The Netherlands Some Notes on Contemporary Racism in the US Women and Racism Black Women with Higher Education Conceptualizing Racism as a Process Racism A Working Definition The Notion of Everyday Racism PART TWO: METHODOLOGICAL QUESTIONS Introduction Methodology within Methodology Accounts The Interviewees Interviewing Method of Analysis PART THREE: KNOWLEDGE AND COMPREHENSION OF EVERYDAY RACISM Introduction General Knowledge and Scenarios of Racism Comprehending Racism Subjective and Objective Assessments of the Comprehension of Racist Events A Procedure for the Assessment of Racist Events Assessing Real-life Explanations of `Unfair Treatment' Relating Cognitive to Social Processes of Understanding The Acquisition of Knowledge of Racism Reconstructing Black Women's General Knowledge of Racism PART FOUR: ANALYZING ACCOUNTS OF RACISM Introduction Analyzing Accounts of Racism Knowledge About Racism as an Evaluative Category in Verbal Accounts Heuristics, Interpretations and Evaluations in Reconstructions of Racist Events Racist Complications in Job Applications What happened? Examples of Real-life Accounts Conclusions PART FIVE: THE INTEGRATION OF RACISM IN EVERYDAY LIFE: THE STORY OF ROSA N. Introduction Rosa N. A Fragmentary Representation of Everyday Racism The Process of Everyday Racism in the Experience of Rosa N. The Macro Context of Experiences of Racism Conclusions Rosa N. and the Shared Experience of Racism PART SIX: THE STRUCTURE OF EVERYDAY RACISM Racism as Conflict Maintaining Process Hidden Agendas The Dominations of Euro-American Values The Basic Agenda Perpetuation of Exclusion and Subordination The Agenda of the Agenda Problematizing those who Problematize Racism The Structure of Everyday Racism CONCLUSIONS APPENDICES Appendix 1. Interview Guide Appendix 2. General Statements about Racism Appendix 3. `Rosa N. File'
