Caste

The Origins of Our Discontents

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Isabel Wilkerson: Caste (2020, Penguin Books, Limited)

496 pages

English language

Published Nov. 23, 2020 by Penguin Books, Limited.

ISBN:
978-0-241-48651-1
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4 stars (1 review)

4 editions

Empathetic and Humane Exploration of a Tough Subject

4 stars

This overall did a much better job than the movie of explaining why the central thesis MATTERED, although I think I may have enjoyed the illustrative stories more if I hadn't already seen the movie.

Most importantly, it gave me several mental tools for thinking about race and caste that will be very useful going forward. I think the tallness/shortness metaphor as a way of addressing unconscious bias will stay with me for a long time.

Some parts were less rigorous than they could have been and I think overstated causation, but that's a social science problem, not a this book problem.

Subjects

  • Caste
  • Social classes
  • Ethnicity
  • Power (social sciences)
  • United states, race relations