Science of Racism

‘It is quite a feat to pull off a densely informative book about a horrible subject that also manages to be charismatic and funny . . . Highly readable’ - The GuardianPolls 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.*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 clear, factual, rigorous science – the data that reveals truths about racism that we need to know. And, somehow, entertains and amuses along the way.‘Illuminating, surprising, unnerving, moving’ - Sathnam Sanghera‘Short circuits the brain’ - The Independent‘A book that shouldn’t have to exist . . . but I’m glad it does’ - Adam Rutherford

Professor Keon West is a social psychologist at University College 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.