White Privilege: The Myth of a Post-Racial Society

This book focuses on white privilege and racism in the context of education; not surprising given that that is the author’s specialism. However, its message applies to UK society as a whole. I don’t know if it’s naivete or wilful ignorance that makes commentators and politicians claim that the UK is not a racist society (anymore or never was) and how we’ve always given a warm welcome to immigrants. It’s only recently that I learned that a Labour Cabinet debated forcing the Empire Windrush to turn back, but then satisfied itself that the passengers would not survive a British winter.The account of “Bernadette”, the black working-class academic in Chapter 4 struck a particular chord with me. My wife has worked in higher education for 25 years and although she’s had more than her fair share of nonsense from male colleagues, the most damaging attacks on her career have come from white female colleagues and department heads, hiding their racism behind a mask of liberal feminism. Racism isn’t simply men with cropped hair marching around with swastikas; it’s now more subtle and – above all – deniable. This is a crucial point that the author makes: racism today is done in such a way that the perpetrator can plausibly deny it, knowing they will be supported by a white “establishment” that will close ranks to preserve the status quo. The complainant will then be labelled as a troublemaker and left feeling not only aggrieved and vulnerable, but without the post or the promotion that has gone to a white colleague with an inferior track record (and its fairly easy to assess track record in academia, in terms of courses taught, papers given and books and articles published).White privilege doesn’t just operate in the UK; it continues to operate in our former colonies. I saw that when my wife and I were working in a former UK colony in the Caribbean. My white skin guaranteed me preferential treatment from customs officers, police officers and government officials while my wife got short shrift. At the airport it made sense for me to carry the booze because my wife was always stopped and searched at customs while I was waved through. Another example: my wife was recently asked to join an all-female team of researchers investigating sex tourism in a developing country. My wife was the only black member of the team. At one point she was sharing an apartment with a colleague in the capital. The capital is a high crime city with very little tourism, yet the colleague insisted on wandering around in skimpy shorts and tops, flirting with local men. She brought several men – security guards and cab drivers – back to the apartment and slept with them. When my wife accused her of engaging in sex tourism she was furious, refusing to see how she was using her white skin and first world status to get her rocks off.This is an important book. Brief, but packed with topical references (it alludes to Brexit and Trump) and really does expose the myth that the UK is a post-racial society. I would like to see a series of books like this covering other aspects of UK society: criminal justice, employment, housing etc.

Very readable for an academic text..Well referenced and evidenced, erudite book explaining the shifting and complicated nature of racism in the UK &, to a certain extent, the USA.Nicely contextualises "white privilege" as contingent and situational - this makes it clear that the term does not deny that white working class people suffer immense disadvantage; that in fact for many white working people privilege comes and goes.Makes clear that PoC are systematically discriminated against across every field of living in the UK but, as a prof of education, she focuses on HE & Russell Group in particular.Nice chapter on travellers and the discrimination they face as racism too.

An incredibly enlightening and educative book that confronts the issues of shire privilege and the nature of the beast that through language and denial constantly squirms to protect itself when legitimate accusations of racism-centred exclusion, bullying and inequalities are brought to light. This is an essential read for white UK based anti-racists who want to expand their knowledge and understand what it is like for Black, Pakistani, Asian and travellers living in a county that believes it has moved past racism, when it still very much permeates every aspect of our society, from higher education to policy making and our media.This book was written during the incendiary time that Donald Trump was inaugurated as president, and the author features both the US and the UK in her chapters.For insight and to help viewers decide if they still wish to purchase this book, the chapters Professor Bhopal covers include the themes of not being white enough, race as a disadvantage, intersectionality, racism in education as well as the labour market and representation in higher education as well as in wealth, poverty and equality.There are also devoted case studies in each chapter to provide further clarity about how each issue affects the livelihood and experience of the affected people by the chapter specific issue.Please get this book, especially if you are white and live in the UK. The UK is not innocent as police brutality is still experienced by Black and minority ethnicities in the UK and our labour markets and education facilities are not doing enough to offer true inclusivity, tackle racism and unconscious bias and recognise them as UK citizens.

The Black Theologian James Cone has long argued that for white people to properly engage with their black brethren in the struggle against the oppression of black people, they must first divest themselves of their privileged status. This book introduces us to the problems of white privilege, and how it manifests itself in British and US contexts.It is a useful book in that it points out what white privlege looks like, it however does not meet the Cone test (something I've just made up), because it does not show how thet privelge can be gotten rid of. It is also unhelpfull in that whilst it mentioms the microagressions used by white people in their interactions with people of colour, it focuses on systematic and institutionalised white privlege, rather than on how white people as individuals express white privelege. That said, Bhopal might argue that as person of colour herself, it is not up to her to white people how they should act, but for us to work it out for ourselves.Finally I was glad to see that Gypsie, Roma and Travellers et al were mentioned alongside people of colour as victims of white privelege. These communities are often overlooked when considering white privelege and white microagressions, but xenophobic language and behaviour against them has long been seen as acceptable in the mainstream media and British culture more generally.- I now wait to see how many white bigots and racists come out of the woodwork to attack this book, having neither read it, or bothered to understand its message.

In places this book made me want to throw it at the wall however it really did give me a lot of valuable information about matters I had not considered before. I now understand more about the things that people of colour are conceerned about that I had not really thought through. It is a very worthwhile book to read and has changed my opinions and thoughts about many things.