The New Politics of Race: Globalism, Difference, Justice (review)

Modern society was established and structured on white supremacy and the exploitation of the racial "other." Deplorably, argues Howard Winant in his new book The New Politics of Race: Globalism, Difference, Justice, while making significant progress toward equality following World War II, a global system of racism and subjugation remains. Throughout the text's 14 essays, Winant argues vehemently against what he considers to be the prevalent belief that the United States and much of the Western world have become "colorblind" or have somehow progressed "beyond" race.

Taking on the challenge of explaining how the old patterns of racism have resulted in a "new" racial politics, theory, and existence, Winant sets out a series of objectives for his book. In it he attempts to "reframe racial theory, to untangle the dynamics of a world racial system that has undergone a comprehensive crisis and reorganization over the past few decades, to understand U.S. racial politics in a global context, and to situate the racial 'politics of experience' in the context of a new, and highly sophisticated, global hegemony" (x). While confessing that addressing all of these objectives may be beyond his capacity, Winant convincingly argues that although his book may only be an introduction to many of these ideas, a thorough reconceptionalization of the politics and theory of race is not only warranted but crucial to understanding the current state of global affairs.

By way of a series of new and previously published essays, Winant delves into these topics, providing compelling evidence that while having reformed blatantly discriminatory practices, the racial disparity that exists in the United States maintains patterns of oppression similar enough to those in other parts of the world for serious reflection on whether the "democracy" practiced by U.S. politicians has provided any "answer" to the "problem" of race, or only created one of many variations in a global dynamic of white supremacy.

Winant divides The New Politics of Race into three parts: "U.S. Racial Politics," "Comparative Racial Studies," and "Racial Theory." The first section explores current U.S. racial politics placed within its historical context. In this discussion Winant includes perspectives of both the racial "other" and whites in the United States. Moving from the United States to a global analysis, in the second section Winant investigates the transition from "racial domination" to "racial hegemony" that he argues took place in the last half of the twentieth century. The most compelling contribution to this section is the concluding essay, which explains the shifting of the racial conflict from a North-South axis to an East-West axis, bringing with it the disconcerting affixing of religion to race that has not been seen in recent decades. In "Race Theory," the final section, Winant presents a series of articles intended to rethink race and racism in the contemporary period, a project that he deems necessary as racial identities and racial conflicts have become increasingly global and complex.

A reader who likes to wade through a text from cover to cover may find Winant's book frustrating. Many of the introductory sections are repetitive, maddeningly similar enough to make the reader wonder if there is something new here that could be uncovered by a closer reading or if this really is the same introductory material as in the previous essay. Individual essays discuss theoretical, political, and social ideas, or provide extended examples rather than build on a theme. Some contributions seem out of place, such as the sole pedagogy essay randomly stuck in the section on racial politics, a problem Winant recognizes in his introductory comments.

The strength of Winant's book is his ability to chart out in broad strokes where the United States and parts of the world stand on race at the turn of this last century. He convincingly maintains that the racial "break" that followed World War II resulted in a global stand against white supremacy, creating the social and political impetus for the...