Culture of Intolerance; Chauvinism, Class, and Racism in the United States

by Mark Nathan Cohen

• ISBN13: 9780300080667
• ISBN10: 0300080662
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1999-08-11
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

This timely book shows that a series of arbitrary misperceptions and inappropriate assumptions in American culture generate racism, the enormous gap between rich and poor, and a host of other social problems. Americans are not taught the real meaning of "freedom, " "property, " "efficiency, " "progress, " and "law." We fail to understand that other people's goals, values, and workstyles can be different from ours without being wrong, or that terms as basic as "father" or "family" may mean very different thi (all equally correct) to different people even within the United States.

Table of Contents

Preface
The Real American Tragedy	p. 1
The Innocent Scapegoat: Human Biological Variation and "Race"	p. 11
Understanding the Rules People Live By: Cultural Systems and Cultural Variation	p. 60
The Real Meaning of Cultural Relativism	p. 111
Some Assumptions of American Culture and the Problems They Generate	p. 134
Justifying Inequality: Cultural Assumptions About Intelligence and Competence	p. 204
Affirmative Action and Curriculum Inclusion	p. 252
Transforming the Culture of Intolerance	p. 293
Suggested Reading	p. 313
Index	p. 317
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