The Economics of Structural Racism

Patrick L. Mason is Professor of Economics and Economist at the Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts – Amherst. His research interests include racial inequality, educational achievement, income distribution, unemployment, social identity, family well-being and structure, racial profiling, and computerization, innovation, and employment.

• Part I. Foundations: 1. Introduction; 2. Racial identity as an economic norm; 3. Mechanisms of stratification: insecurities and inequities of capitalist competition; 4. Regimes of racial stratification: 1865 – present; Part II. African American Educational Progress and Transformations in Family Structure, 1965 – present: 5. African American educational progress: 1965 – present; 6. Transformations in family structure; Part III. African American Income and Wealth, 1965 – present: 7. Family income growth and inequality: 1965 – present; 8. Family wealth inequality: pensions, homeownership, and property income; 9. Individual wage and employment disparity; 10. African American cultural diversity: social identity, ethnicity, and nativity; Part IV. Structural Racism, 1965 – present: 11. Structural racism and persistent wage disparity; 12. The Criminal legal system and hate crimes; Part V. Restatement and Discussion: 13. Restatement and discussion; References; Index.

'[A] book that should be read widely, even by economists specializing in general issues in the US economy. … The book provides a template for mapping the position of other marginalized groups in the US economy, and its focus on stratification economics can help a wide range of people see their own abundance.' Larry Chavis, Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy