The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class (Haymarket)

by David R Roediger

Kathleen Cleaver (Introduction), Mike Davis, Michael Sprinker, and Priyamvada Gopal (Preface)

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Combining classical Marxism, psychoanalysis, and the new labor history pioneered by E. P. Thompson and Herbert Gutman, David Roediger's widely acclaimed book provides an original study of the formative years of working-class racism in the United States. This, he argues, cannot be explained simply with reference to economic advantage; rather, white working-class racism is underpinned by a complex series of psychological and ideological mechanisms that reinforce racial stereotypes, and thus help to forge the identities of white workers in opposition to Blacks.
In a new preface, Roediger reflects on the reception, influence, and critical response to The Wages of Whiteness, while Kathleen Cleaver's insightful introduction hails the importance of a work that has become a classic.
  • ISBN10 1844671453
  • ISBN13 9781844671458
  • Publish Date 17 July 2007 (first published 17 September 1991)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Out of Print 14 January 2023
  • Publish Country GB
  • Imprint Verso Books