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

West, Keon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1035030675 ISBN 13: 9781035030675

Publisher: Picador, 2026

Synopsis

Shortlisted for the 2026 Unwin Award
Longlisted for the 2026 Jhalak Prize

Polls show that over fifty per cent of us don’t believe racism exists.

In a world made for White people, The Science of Racism uses clear scientific research to expose what we know about racism, exactly how we know it, and what we can do about it.

‘Charismatic and funny’ - The Guardian
'Illuminating, surprising, unnerving, moving' - Sathnam Sanghera
'Short circuits the brain' - The Independent

* British police are nine times more likely to use their tasers on Black people.
* An item being advertised on eBay will sell for approximately twenty per cent less if a dark-skinned hand is shown in the photos.
* Black Caribbean applicants have to apply for around fifty per cent more jobs in order to receive a positive response.

Professor Keon West cuts through the divisive anecdotes and rhetoric with decades’ worth of science – the data that reveals truths about racism that are shocking and tragic, but also (somehow) funny and entertaining.

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 one of society’s most pressing questions.

Edition details

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1035030675
• ISBN 13: 9781035030675
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352