Publisher's Synopsis
Offering a challenge to conventional wisdom about racial stereotyping in the US, this book argues that the popular television programme, "The Cosby Show", despite being apparently progressive, in fact helps to construct "enlightened" forms of racism. The authors argue that, in the post-Civil Rights era, a new structure of racial beliefs, based on subtle contradictions between attitudes toward race and class, has brought in its wake this new form of racial thought that seems on the surface to exhibit a new tolerance. However, the authors find that because Americans cannot think clearly about class, they cannot, after all, think clearly about race.;This book is based on an empirical analysis of the reactions to "The Cosby Show" of a range of ordinary Americans, both black and white. The authors discussed with the different audiences their attitudes towards the programme and more generally their understanding and perceptions of issues of race and social class.
