This best-selling textbook explains the current state of research in the sociology of race/ethnicity, emphasizing white privilege, the social construction of race, and the newest theoretical perspectives for understanding race and ethnicity. It is designed to engage students with an emphasis on topics that are meaningful to their lives, including sports, popular culture, interracial relationships, and biracial/multiracial identities and families. The new 3rd edition comes at a pivotal time in the politics of race and identity. Fitzgerald includes vital new discussions on white ethnicities and the politics of Trump and populism. Prominent attention is given to immigration and the discourse surrounding it; to police and minority populations; and the criminal justice system. Using the latest available data, the author examines the present and future of generational change. New cases studies include athletes and racial justice activism; removal of Confederate monuments; updates on Black Lives Matter, and Native American activism at Standing Rock and against the Bayou Bridge pipeline.


Kathleen J. Fitzgerald is a Teaching Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her teaching and research focuses on social inequalities, specifically race, racism, and privilege; gender and sexualities; and food justice. She is author of Beyond White Ethnicity: Developing a Sociological Understanding of Native American Identity Reclamation and has published in The Sociological Quarterly, Humanity and Society, and Sociological Focus.