Why read The Anatomy of Racial Inequality?

Book cover of The Anatomy of Racial Inequality: With a New Preface

Book description

"Lifts and transforms the discourse on 'race' and racial justice to an entirely new level."
-Orlando Patterson

"Intellectually rigorous and deeply thoughtful...An incisive, erudite book by a major thinker."
-Gerald Early, New York Times Book Review

Why are black Americans so persistently confined to the margins of society? And why…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Anatomy of Racial Inequality as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Rajiv Sethi

Author

This beautifully written and tightly argued book examines mechanisms that sustain inequality among social groups across generations, which Loury traces primarily to discrimination in contact rather than discrimination in contract.

Contractual discrimination can be addressed by law, but discrimination in contact—in such matters as friendship, marriage, adoption, and residential choice—lies largely outside the scope of state action. Through such channels historical inequality between groups can persist indefinitely, even under formal equality of opportunity.

From Rajiv's list on human interactions and the complexity of social life.