The Science of Racism

Polls show that half of us think racism doesn’t exist . . .


In the ground-breaking The Science of Racism Professor Keon West cuts through the divisive anecdotes and rhetoric with decades’ worth of clear, factual, rigorous science – the data that reveals truths about racism that are shocking and tragic, but also (somehow) funny and entertaining.

He explains how we know, for example, that Black people are up to 50 per cent less likely to be called in to interview than identically qualified White people. He shows how we know the financial cost of selling items online while Black. He reveals the effects of racism on our friendships, relationships, healthcare and justice system. And he exposes the continued prevalence of racism, and the inadequacy of our many attempts to address it.

Whatever you’ve read before, this book will ensure that you never see racism in the same way again.

Review

This isn’t like any other book you’ve read about racism. It is feverishly devoted to data, painting an unarguable picture of the extent and scope of racism in our society. Read this book and you’ll win every debate you’ll ever have with anyone who doubts the existence of racism. -- Natasha Devon

Illuminating, surprising, unnerving, moving . . . and, sadly, utterly necessary for this time in history. -- Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland

About the Author

Professor Keon West is a social psychologist at the University of London. He earned his doctorate from Oxford University in 2010 as a Rhodes Scholar and has since published more than seventy quantitative papers on prejudice and discrimination in many of the best peer-reviewed social-psychology journals, including Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and Perspectives on Psychological Science. Professor West has written for national and international newspapers and been the host of numerous radio and television shows on the topics of prejudice and discrimination. He is a citizen of three countries and has, over his life, been a resident of four. He is a husband, a father of two boys, a hobby photographer, and a huge fan of Star Trek. He has always been Black. Keon is the co-author of an audiobook, Skewed. The Science of Racism is his second book.