American Apartheid, Douglas S. Massey
American Apartheid, Douglas S. Massey
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

American Apartheid
Segregation and the Making of the Underclass

Author: Douglas S. Massey, Nancy A. Denton

Narrator: James Anderson Foster

Unabridged: 10 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/20/2018


Synopsis

American Apartheid shows how the black ghetto was created by whites during the first half of the twentieth century in order to isolate growing urban black populations. It goes on to show that, despite the Fair Housing Act of 1968, segregation is perpetuated today through an interlocking set of individual actions, institutional practices, and governmental policies. In some urban areas the degree of black segregation is so intense and occurs in so many dimensions simultaneously that it amounts to "hypersegregation."

The authors demonstrate that this systematic segregation of African Americans leads inexorably to the creation of underclass communities during periods of economic downturn. Under conditions of extreme segregation, any increase in the overall rate of black poverty yields a marked increase in the geographic concentration of indigence and the deterioration of social and economic conditions in black communities. As ghetto residents adapt to this increasingly harsh environment under a climate of racial isolation, they evolve attitudes, behaviors, and practices that further marginalize their neighborhoods and undermine their chances of success in mainstream American society. This book is a sober challenge to those who argue that race is of declining significance in the United States today.

About Douglas S. Massey

Douglas S. Massey is the Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University and director of its Office of Population Research.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Andrea on November 10, 2011

This book set my teeth on edge, and it was hard for a while to figure out why as I agree with many of the findings, and their research into changing levels of segregation over decades in cities across America is vital and well carried out. They describe segregation as one of, if not the, principal i......more

Goodreads review by Reb on June 22, 2010

you know when people talk about "institutionalized racism" and it's a bit murky exactly what that looks like? this book will explain it. Denton and Massey's classic details the psychosocial forms that racism takes, in creating the conditions for white flight and blockbusting and all that good stuff.......more

Goodreads review by Joseph on February 02, 2019

An excellent work of sociology that explores the roots and dynamics of poverty and housing segregation in American cities. This work is a bit old now, but even if you have read a lot on housing segregation, I'd still recommend this insightful book. The main argument is that housing segregation is th......more

Goodreads review by Michael on February 03, 2018

I will be honest to say that I did not read every page of this book, mainly because I am familiar with the content. I am currently enrolled in class that addresses many of the social topics that goes on society, whether that be police brutality, race contentions, civil rights and other things. In pa......more

Goodreads review by Brittany on November 17, 2018

chapter 6 - how to build an underclass/ a ghetto and 7- how to sustain it were whew.......more