3.5 stars.

This book was incredibly interesting, but such a slog to read! It’s academic writing, so difficult to penetrate at times. I wouldn’t recommend this as the first or second book someone reads about racism or white privilege for that reason. Also, the title is a little misleading - the bulk of the writing addresses systemic racism in an educational context, hopping between the UK and US, and then briefly touches on the labour market at the end. It doesn’t examine wider society and it doesn’t look at the root cases of racism, but starts from a point of just acknowledging that it exists.

As someone who works in the Department for Education, I found it essential reading from a professional standpoint. I want everyone I work with to read this, especially policy teams. I don’t think there is a full understanding of how our policies impact on perpetuating racism in wider society. Yes, much of the time we’re carrying out the will of elected politicians so can’t shape the whole directions of policy, but I wonder if we can be more savvy about the way we implement policies to make them fairer for all.