Racism, Class and the Racialized Outsider

"A remarkable study of the interplay between racism and anti-racism in shaping the contours of working class organization and struggle in England. It is a nuanced and sophisticated contribution both to the empirical account of this historical trajectory, and to our theoretical understanding of the mutually constitutive character of race and class." - Erik Olin Wright, Vilas Distinguished Professor, University of Wisconsin, USA, and Past-President, American Sociological Association "A serious and conceptually sophisticated analysis of key aspects of racism and anti-racism in the contemporary environment. Its combination of history and sociology makes it somewhat unique and it has no obvious competitor at the present time." - John Solomos, Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick, UK "Virdee's inspiring and historically wide-ranging account of the hidden role played by racialized minorities in the formative moments of English labour history sets a new benchmark in work on race and class." - Verity Burgmann, Professor Emerita, Monash University, Australia "This pathbreaking and cogently written book is a major contribution to our historical understanding of racism and working class politics in England." - Rodolfo D. Torres, University of California, Irvine, USA "It is written in an engaging and accessible way and manages to convey its argument that English working class history cannot be fully understood without the lens of race to interrogate key events. This is a book that I would recommend to labour studies students for a different take on working class history of the labour movement, but also students of sociology and race in order that they develop a more nuanced understanding of the process of racialization through some of the key events of English working class struggles." - Jane Holgate, University of Leeds, UK "Racism, Class and the Racialized Outsider makes an important contribution to the history of the English Working class, trade union movement and the left; crucially it is highly readable." - Sian Moore, Centre for Employment Studies Research "He has made a significant contribution to the writing of a more nuanced and true history of the working classes of the British Isles" Danny Reilly, Institute of Race Relations "Virdee's work provides a highly useful historical foundation from which to approach the task of explicating, politically and theoretically, more recent linkages between the economic violence of growing class inequality and the racisms with which it is fundamentally intertwined." Margarita Aragon, Associate Lecturer in Sociology, Goldsmiths College, UK "This book is important for emphasizing how the racializing of outsiders has long historical roots and Virdee's insistence on putting race at the centre of our understanding of social history is timely" Lucy Williams, University of Kent, UK "Racism, Class and the Racialized Outsider is that rare thing nowadays, an academic book that not only engages with a wider public but also provides a sharp campaigning edge to the analysis. Historical and broad in its coverage, this is one of the best accounts of contemporary racism published in a good long time." Mark Perryman, Philosophy Football

This insightful text offers an original perspective on the significance of both racism and anti-racism in structuring the English working class. Through the unique concept of the racialized outsider, Virdee demonstrates the contribution of Irish Catholics, Jews, Asians and the African diaspora to the making of a more inclusive, democratic society."Racism, Class and the Racialized Outsider is that rare thing nowadays, an academic book that not only engages with a wider public but also provides a sharp campaigning edge to the analysis. Historical and broad in its coverage, this is one of the best accounts of contemporary racism published in a good long time." Mark Perryman, Philosophy Football Racism, Class and the Racialized Outsider offers an original perspective on the significance of both racism and anti-racism in the making of the English working class. While racism became a powerful structuring force within this social class from as early as the mid-Victorian period, this book also traces the episodic emergence of currents of working class anti-racism. Through an insistence that race is central to the way class works, this insightful text demonstrates not only that the English working class was a multi-ethnic formation from the moment of its inception but that racialized outsiders – Irish Catholics, Jews, Asians and the African diaspora – often played a catalytic role in the collective action that helped fashion a more inclusive and democratic society.