Understanding Race and Ethnic Relations

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is teaching sociology or anthropology classes on racial and ethnic relations as one of the textbooks to use in class. This book introduces students to a wide variety of concepts and theoretical orientations that are or have been prominent in the sociology of racial inequality over the past 50 - 100 years, such as Park's race relations cycle, Gordon's assimilation theory, Hansen's three generation hypothesis, and Moynihan's "culture of poverty" paradigm. Unlike most other textbooks that deal with this subject matter, Parrillo does not organize chapters around particular racial/ethnic groups. Instead, chapters are organized by thematic concepts, such as prejudice, discrimination, and the future of ethnicity in the United States. Parrillo incorporates a tremendous diversity of theoretical frameworks and sociological concepts throughout the text - the most important being the "Dillingham Flaw" (intentionally making a flawed comparison, based on past phenomena that no longer exist or have changed considerably). This book is perfect for teaching freshman-level race courses at universities. Students often enter these classes with averse, angry attitudes and hostile outlooks. In the first chapter, Parrillo actually discusses this problem, pointing out why intellectual conversations on race that aim for rational analysis of data and empiricism are difficult for students. Students often have trouble keeping their own emotions in check and have difficulty looking at things "outside the box" - a necessary endeavor for quality social science analysis. This is the only book I know of that speaks to and addresses the emotional reactions people usually get when discussing race. My favorite part of the book is Chapter 2, especially the section on "Theories of Minority Integration" where the author discusses different ideologies a society may employ regarding ethnic diversity (assimilation, amalgamation, or pluralism). His discussion of a multitude of different and conflicting social and psychological theories regarding the origins of prejudice and discrimination are also top notch. There is nothing negative I can say about this book. It is extremely informative, written in a plain-English prose, and should have trouble in grabbing and retaining the reader's interest.

Dr. Parrillo's prior works have been excellent; this book is a perfect fit for a class I developed, and teach, at UNLV: Racial and Ethnic Groups of the United States. With its concise sociological construction, its thoughtful analaysis of the powers of prejudice, and its exploration of dominant-minority relations in millennial America, it makes excellent and informative reading for my students.