Communicating Racism

How do members of "in" groups talk about minority groups? How does everyday talk contribute to the spread, and acceptance, of ethnic prejudice? These are but two among the many fundamental questions raised in this revealing look at ethnic stereotypes and the way in which they are diffused through interpersonal communication and inter group interactions. By analyzing informal discourse about ethnic minorities, and the reproduction of racism within the white majority, Communicating Racism offers us a new understanding of many deeply rooted and poorly understood patterns of prejudice. In a clearly written and methodologically elegant analysis of conversation as an integral and revealing mirror of human behavior, the author teaches us far- reaching lessons about the cognitive, social, and communicative dimensions of racism. Communicating Racism will be essential reading for a wide variety of social science and humanities professionals and their students, including specialists engaged in the study of discourse, cognition, persuasion, and communication. As a result it will be especially useful as background reading for upper division and graduate courses in linguistics, discourse analysis, cognitive and social psychology, micro sociology, anthropology, speech communication, and ethnic studies. "The most analytically comprehensive and revealing treatment of the social organization of ethnic prejudice to date. . . . van Dijk exposes the subtle means by which ethnic prejudice . . . maintains and sustains social inequality and injustice. . . . A remarkable tour de force of scholarship and social concern." --Thomas Kochman, University of Illinois, Chicago "The research in this book disproves the idea that racism and ethnic prejudice come from a particular geographical, sexual, or socioeconomic group. . . . Van Dijk's work is both carefully documented and dedicated to social change. As such it can remind us of and encourage us in our own battles with racism and other prejudices." --Homiletic "The study . . . has considerable methodological value. Advanced students and mature scholars can further develop the ideas presented. Good bibliography." --Choice "Communicating Racism is an ambitious, well-written, and important coordination of varied methodologies and insights of cognitive studies, discourse analysis, and social psychology; it attempts to explicate the social reproduction of prejudice through ordinary language and everyday speech. . . . A significant contribution to the field." --Contemporary Sociology "Communicating Racism will be of interest to scholars in several fields, particularly those who are concerned with the relationship between racist discourse and the perpetuation of racist ideology. . . . van Dijk has accomplished the difficult task of writing for several audiences without biasing the thesis toward general or technical readers. Both scholars and laymen can gain considerable insight. . . . Discourse analysis is presented as a ...