The Science of Racism: Everything you need to know but probably don't - yet - Softcover

West, Keon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1035030667 ISBN 13: 9781035030668

Publisher: Picador, 2025

Synopsis

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

'Illuminating, surprising, unnerving, moving . . . and, sadly, utterly necessary' - Sathnam Sanghera, bestselling author of Empireland

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.

About this title

About the Author

Professor Keon West is a social psychologist at the University of London and a visiting professor at the London School of Economics. 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.

From the Back Cover

How do we know if racism really exists? And, if it does, how big a problem is it for the outcomes of people of colour? Only science has the answers to some of societys most pressing questions.

Edition details

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1035030667
• ISBN 13: 9781035030668
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352