Racial Formation in the United States

Racial Formation in the United States, 3rd Edition, is a textbook that investigates how racial concepts are created, transformed, and experienced across society. It examines how race sparks political conflict while permeating social institutions and individual identities.

The volume examines paradigms of ethnicity, class, and nation alongside theoretical models of racial formation and the state. It also addresses postwar racial politics, evaluating mass immigrant rights activism, intersectionality frameworks, and the election and reelection of a black U.S. president.

Designed for undergraduate courses in race, ethnicity, history, political theory, and American democracy, this edition presents revised chapters that foreground race as a master category.