Getting Beyond Race: The Changing American Culture

In Getting Beyond Race, Richard Payne takes the practical approach that race relations are ultimately about ordinary people interacting with each other. Payne argues that confrontation, blaming, and dwelling on failure in race relations are not as productive as adopting a positive view and looking at individual success stories. Drawing from his own experience of having lived with different racial groups and hundreds of conversations with Americans from all walks of life and racial backgrounds, he writes about those who are helping to reduce the significance of race in society and through their actions are creating models of behaviour for America’s future. Payne covers topics from how race is an artificial concept created for social purposes to race in the military, interracial marriages and adoptions, affirmative action, and the effects of generational change and immigration on racial attitudes in America. Instead of looking at questions of race simply in terms of black-white relations, he expands his discussion to include Latinos, Asians, and other people of colour. Moreover, Payne contends that the very concept of race is being weakened by fundamental changes throughout many facets of American culture. This book looks forward and offers concrete suggestions for getting beyond race.