Undeniable is the fact we need to have honest harsh dialogues about race and white privilege. Unfortunately the very people who are benefiting the most from white privilege are the ones most resistant to acknowledging it exists, to say nothing of dismantling or reforming the rigged system.

This book is touted to be "rooted in dispassionate analysis" with its approach in tackling this complex issue. Divided into chapters, starting with a discussion of neoliberalism and the fallout from Brexit and election of Trump then education, bullying in schools, gypsies and travelers, labor and employment issues with regard to white privilege.

There were some significant issues that, in my opinion, marred this book.
1) The discussion was limited to situations and institutions in the US and Britain. Surely white privilege is a problem in Europe, Canada, New Zealand, Australia etc etc.? Take the overwhelming percentage of white people in top political leadership positions, managerial CEO positions, judicial and army posts - these would be relevant in the other countries mentioned as well.

2) The phrase "blacks and other minority groups" was used repeatedly to denote non-whites. While this is understandable for the United States where likely the largest non-white group are blacks, it makes less sense to use this for Britain where brown people and Muslims would form the majority of non-whites. With the ubiquitous use of this phrase, there was an over-emphasis on specific challenges that black people face while ignoring the same for other groups such as native americans, latinos and asians.

3) A whole chapter with its own subgroup of education, health, labor issues etc was devoted to gypsies and travelers. The author explained that they were chosen to illustrate that there is a type of whiteness that is considered "other" and therefore not a recipient of white privilege. However, this group is specific to Britain and not even able to be generalized to the Roma European group. So again, puzzling overemphasis on a group that did not progress the discussion much.

Some other minor issues. This is written in an academic manner but there were some citations from newspapers such as Huffington Post, The Telegraph and The Guardian, which would not have been admissible in an academic work. In my Kindle version, the graphs and tables that accompanied the text were garbled. The chapter format was also untidy. The author mentions cases of police brutality of black people in US in conjunction with Trump's election but there were other more connected cases of racism and violence directly after his election (like the racially motivated shooting of a Sikh on his driveway) that were more illustrative. Lastly, the author mentions vaguely that there was some hostility to this topic but there is a body of literature on fragility of the white ego that could have been included and relevant. I would also have appreciated a discussion on media and literary representation of whites and non-whites (including the white saviour complex).

The book's strength lies in its extensive documentation and figures. The logical and analytical approach provides irrefutable evidence not only of the existence of white privilege but the mechanisms in place to maintain the status quo.

Thanks to Policy Press and Netgalley for providing a copy of this book for review.

This was an interesting book. As someone who has read a lot of racial theory and anti-racist works ,this was a little basic for me but it is a great encapsulation of the things that so really need to be considered and looked at by white people about their privilege.

This book explores the different aspects of whiteness and white privilege, race, education, poverty in the US and UK and policies that affect the society.
I had a rough idea of neoliberalism because over the years in Kenya public services like education can do health have been privatized. In regards to education there are at least five private schools within a five mile radius of a public school.
I was quite taken by the author's insight on neoliberalism that it's the "drive to privatize public services like education and Healthcare and the disposal of assets owned by the state to private investors. It fails to acknowledge racism by reinforcing the notion that it is for the good of the whole society rather than a select few, yet the evidence presented in this book suggests this is not the case."

The author concludes by saying that policy making within a neoliberalism context has not led to the inclusion it aspires to, but rather has reinforced inequalities between black and minority ethnic groups and white people in the society and this is because the structures and racist practices still exist.

I also thought that it'd make a good reference book but in paperback version because the digital copy I received did not show figures which would be a great enhancement to the data and research studies referenced.

Am I the only one that thinks Chick-fil-A is addicting?

One of my New Year resolutions was to read more books that stimulate my mind. Thanks #netgalley in helping me achieve this goal with an ARC of
#whiteprivilegethemythofapostracialsociety by #kalwantbhopal.

This book contends that racism is systemic and in our society whiteness is privileged (as evidenced by social contexts in the US and UK). The author posits different levels of privilege within whiteness both in terms of intersectionality and particular kinds of whiteness that are favored in society. She goes on to explain how racism is manifested in education by policies that are presented under the guise of inclusion but are inherently exclusive and marginalizing. Bhopal also discusses racism in the labor market and the cyclical nature of “wealth, poverty and inequality”.

In all honestly this book was dense. It’s been a while since I’ve been in school and read academic texts and I find I enjoy them. I agree with the authors argument and think it’s a much needed discussion in light of all that’s happening in our society. We say we live in a post racial society but then we see the state of our nation. No bueno. Most of the arguments the author I’ve read in some form or another but appreciate the context the author discusses and makes sense of these ideas.

Check out this book on its 4/6/18 publication date.

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This should be required reading for every white person alive so they can understand why their responsibility for dismantling these widespread systems of inequality that plague the rest of us!