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

About this book

Combining classical Marxism psychoanalysis and the new labor history pioneered by E. P. Thompson and Herbert Gutman David Roedigers 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 Cleavers insightful introduction hails the importance of a work that has become a classic.