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Edition: |
pb |
| ISBN: |
9780816642786 |
| Publisher: |
University Of Minnesota Press |
| Release Date: |
2004-11-05 |
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ITEM OVERVIEW
"The Abolition Of White Democracy is essential reading for all those seeking to realize the promise of democracy in America." —Noel Ignatiev.
Racial matters pervade nearly every aspect of American life. Olson contends that given the history of slavery and segregation in the United States, citizenship is a form of racial privilege in which whites are equal to each other but superior to everyone else. He demonstrates 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 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. Instead, Olson posits an "abolitionist democratic" political theory. A superb contribution to the understanding of race, class, and privilege in America today.
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