The abolition of white democracy / Joel Olson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Olson, Joel, 1967-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Racism--Political aspects--United States.

Racism.

Racism--Political aspects.

White people.

Politics and government.

Race discrimination--Political aspects.

Race discrimination.

United States.

Race discrimination--Political aspects--United States.

Democracy--United States.

Democracy.

White people--United States--Politics and government.

White people--Race identity--United States.

White people--Race identity.

Multiculturalism--United States.

Multiculturalism.

United States--Race relations--Political aspects.

Race relations.

United States--Politics and government.

Physical Description:

xxix, 197 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2004]

Summary:

Racial Discrimination embodies inequality, exclusion, and injustice and as such has no place in a democratic society. And yet racial matters pervade nearly every aspect of American life. Joel Olson contends that, given the history of slavery and segregation in the United States, American citizenship is a form of racial Privilege in which whites are equal to each other but superior to everyone else. In Olson's analysis we see how the tension in this equation produces a passive form of democracy that discourages participation in politics because it treats Citizenship as an identity to possess rather than as a source of empowerment. Olson traces this tension and its disenfranchising effects from the colonial era to our own, demonstrating how, after the Civil Rights movement, whiteness has become less a form of standing and more a norm that cements white advantages in the ordinary operations of modern society. To break this pattern, Olson suggests an "abolitionist-democratic" political theory that makes the fight against racial discrimination a prerequisite for expanding democratic participation.

Contents:

Introducing the White Democracy xi

1. A Political Theory of Race 1

2. The Problem of the White Citizen 31

3. The Peculiar Dilemma of Whiteness 65

4. The Failure of Multiculturalism and Color Blindness 95

5. The Abolition-Democracy 125.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-189) and index.

ISBN:

081664277X

0816642788

OCLC:

54611025