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Critical Race Theory, Fourth Edition
A new edition of a seminal text in Critical Race Theory
Since the publication of the third edition of Critical Race Theory: An Introduction in 2017, the United States has experienced a dramatic increase in racially motivated mass shootings and a pandemic that revealed how deeply entrenched medical racism is and how public disasters disproportionately affect minority communities. We have also seen a sharp backlash against Critical Race Theory, and a president who deemed racism a thing of the past while he fanned the flames of racial intolerance and promoted nativist sentiments among his followers. Now more than ever, the racial disparities in all aspects of
public life are glaringly obvious.
Taking note of all these developments, this fourth edition covers a range of new topics and events and addresses the rise of a fierce wave of criticism from right-wing websites, think tanks, and foundations, some of which insist that America is now colorblind and has little use for racial analysis and study. Award-winning authors Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic also address the rise in legislative efforts to curtail K–12 teaching of racial history.
Critical Race Theory, Fourth Edition , is essential for understanding developments in this burgeoning field, which has spread to other disciplines and countries. The new edition also covers the ways in which other societies and disciplines adapt its teachings and, for readers wanting to advance a progressive race agenda, includes new readings and questions for discussion aimed at outlining practical steps to achieve this objective.
Since the publication of the third edition of Critical Race Theory: An Introduction in 2017, the United States has experienced a dramatic increase in racially motivated mass shootings and a pandemic that revealed how deeply entrenched medical racism is and how public disasters disproportionately affect minority communities. We have also seen a sharp backlash against Critical Race Theory, and a president who deemed racism a thing of the past while he fanned the flames of racial intolerance and promoted nativist sentiments among his followers. Now more than ever, the racial disparities in all aspects of
public life are glaringly obvious.
Taking note of all these developments, this fourth edition covers a range of new topics and events and addresses the rise of a fierce wave of criticism from right-wing websites, think tanks, and foundations, some of which insist that America is now colorblind and has little use for racial analysis and study. Award-winning authors Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic also address the rise in legislative efforts to curtail K–12 teaching of racial history.
Critical Race Theory, Fourth Edition , is essential for understanding developments in this burgeoning field, which has spread to other disciplines and countries. The new edition also covers the ways in which other societies and disciplines adapt its teachings and, for readers wanting to advance a progressive race agenda, includes new readings and questions for discussion aimed at outlining practical steps to achieve this objective.
- GenresRaceNonfiction
223 pages, Paperback
Published March 14, 2023
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63 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 12, 2023
Based on all of the controversy surrounding critical race theory, I expected (and was more or less seeking) a more radical/activist perspective. This book is (in my opinion) overwhelmingly reasonable, and is (if anything) somewhat conservative in its methodology, language and arguments.
Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a framework for understanding and evaluating the ways race and racism intersect with legal, educational, political, and economic systems, and how systemic and interpersonal racism negatively impacts everyone, particularly BIPOC (of course).
Some of the primary tenets of CRT (as I understand them based on my reading of this and related texts) include:
Normative Racism: CRT asserts that the American legal, political and social system has racist historical origins and racist philosophical assumptions, and as such
racism is an everyday experience for BIPOC, and not anomalous or isolated event(s) committed by a “few bad apples” as it is commonly understood and depicted in media.
Interest Convergence: CRT commonly asserts that white liberal allies will support racial justice only in so far as it benefits them, and will reliably reduce/eliminate antiracist support either once the issue has been superficially resolved (e.g., the Obama presidency) or if it no longer serves their interests, or becomes expensive, dangerous or disadvantageous.
Social Construction of Race: CRT asserts that race not a biological fact, but rather a socially constructed, and historically mutable category that primarily functions to maintain white privilege and oppressive social hierarchies.
Intersectionality: CRT acknowledges that people can be simultaneously advantaged and disadvantaged by multiple sources of privilege and oppression (e.g., race, gender, class). For instance, wealthy BIPOC may be disadvantaged by racism and advantaged in their wealth. BIPOC women may be disadvantaged by both racism and patriarchy. Queer BIPOC my be disadvantaged by both racism and homophobia.
Storytelling: CRT recognizes the importance of personal and institutional narratives and stories in both maintaining and challenging dominant cultural narratives about race.
Critique of Liberalism: CRT critiques traditional liberal approaches to racial justice, such as colorblindness and incremental change. CRT asserts that these forms of liberalism, no matter how well intended maintain racial hierarchies and white supremacy.
There’s (obviously) more to CRT.
Some of the (lame/trumped up) controversy regarding CRT has involved opposition to teaching CRT in K-12 education. I have no idea why that would be a bad thing. But the fact is that CRT has primarily been taught in law schools and graduate programs. The book highlights philosophical and ethical dilemmas and avoids easy “think this do that” type programming by posing TREULY challenging thought problems, questions and writing exercises. This would be a GREAT textbook for a class on race (and class, and law and ethics, and critical thinking more generally).
But don’t take my word for it.
Read it for yourself.
It’s actually not that long.
And VERY worth the time/effort.
Anyway.
Great book.
5/5 stars ⭐️
Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a framework for understanding and evaluating the ways race and racism intersect with legal, educational, political, and economic systems, and how systemic and interpersonal racism negatively impacts everyone, particularly BIPOC (of course).
Some of the primary tenets of CRT (as I understand them based on my reading of this and related texts) include:
Normative Racism: CRT asserts that the American legal, political and social system has racist historical origins and racist philosophical assumptions, and as such
racism is an everyday experience for BIPOC, and not anomalous or isolated event(s) committed by a “few bad apples” as it is commonly understood and depicted in media.
Interest Convergence: CRT commonly asserts that white liberal allies will support racial justice only in so far as it benefits them, and will reliably reduce/eliminate antiracist support either once the issue has been superficially resolved (e.g., the Obama presidency) or if it no longer serves their interests, or becomes expensive, dangerous or disadvantageous.
Social Construction of Race: CRT asserts that race not a biological fact, but rather a socially constructed, and historically mutable category that primarily functions to maintain white privilege and oppressive social hierarchies.
Intersectionality: CRT acknowledges that people can be simultaneously advantaged and disadvantaged by multiple sources of privilege and oppression (e.g., race, gender, class). For instance, wealthy BIPOC may be disadvantaged by racism and advantaged in their wealth. BIPOC women may be disadvantaged by both racism and patriarchy. Queer BIPOC my be disadvantaged by both racism and homophobia.
Storytelling: CRT recognizes the importance of personal and institutional narratives and stories in both maintaining and challenging dominant cultural narratives about race.
Critique of Liberalism: CRT critiques traditional liberal approaches to racial justice, such as colorblindness and incremental change. CRT asserts that these forms of liberalism, no matter how well intended maintain racial hierarchies and white supremacy.
There’s (obviously) more to CRT.
Some of the (lame/trumped up) controversy regarding CRT has involved opposition to teaching CRT in K-12 education. I have no idea why that would be a bad thing. But the fact is that CRT has primarily been taught in law schools and graduate programs. The book highlights philosophical and ethical dilemmas and avoids easy “think this do that” type programming by posing TREULY challenging thought problems, questions and writing exercises. This would be a GREAT textbook for a class on race (and class, and law and ethics, and critical thinking more generally).
But don’t take my word for it.
Read it for yourself.
It’s actually not that long.
And VERY worth the time/effort.
Anyway.
Great book.
5/5 stars ⭐️
July 17, 2024
Very Good! I have wanted to read this book for a while now. CRT has been the subject of much public controversy. I feel it's best to get the proponents' thoughts, opinions, and philosophy directly from the source. There are some critiques of this theory that could be made, as well as other avenues to take for solutions. It is important to remember many social theories have different branches within their own body: conservative, moderate, and radical. CRT also demonstrates these types of branches. Overall, a very good and interesting read.
🌷Book Quotes:
"The critical race theory (CRT) movement is a collection of activists and scholars engaged in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power."
"Some members of the Black community hold that not enough of society's attention goes to law-abiding Black citizens who are the victims of crime in Black neighborhoods."
"White privilege refers to the myriad of social advantages, benefits, and courtesies that come with being a member of the dominant race."
"And if CRT does have a dark side, what follows from that?"
🌷Book Quotes:
"The critical race theory (CRT) movement is a collection of activists and scholars engaged in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power."
"Some members of the Black community hold that not enough of society's attention goes to law-abiding Black citizens who are the victims of crime in Black neighborhoods."
"White privilege refers to the myriad of social advantages, benefits, and courtesies that come with being a member of the dominant race."
"And if CRT does have a dark side, what follows from that?"
February 3, 2024
As a college professor, I expected this text to be a dense read but was pleasantly surprised to find this edition very accessible to the average reader. And with the easy language comes the opportunity for everyone, from people who are curious about topic to other scholarly experts, to read up on a theory that has been cause for debate for some time. This book will allow you to understand before you pass judgment, hopefully, and I highly recommend it.
February 24, 2024
This book provided a good introduction to CRT for someone not well versed in theory. I appreciated the clear language and direct style, and the "imagine" components in each section helped to contextualize ideas I wasn't familiar with.
December 13, 2025
This is a great book and important subject matter, I just didn’t love how it was organized.
November 12, 2023
I was required to read this book for River City Institute. The purpose of reading the book was to read primary sources on critical race theory. If your goal is to do that, then this is a good place to start. The doctrines espoused in this book are demonic. Stray far from the teaching of this book and hold fast to sound and solid truth instead.
September 5, 2025
This book claims to be an introduction to Critical Race Theory, but it doesn’t quite succeed in that goal. As someone looking for a true entry point into the topic, I often felt lost. The explanations were either too shallow or assumed prior knowledge that an “introductory” book shouldn’t. The writing was also dry at times, and the structure felt very scattered, making it difficult to follow key ideas.
While the book does present multiple perspectives, it lacks enough current examples, which is disappointing given that this edition was released in 2023. A stronger focus on clarity, organization, and real-world application would have made this a much better starting point. As it stands, I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners.
While the book does present multiple perspectives, it lacks enough current examples, which is disappointing given that this edition was released in 2023. A stronger focus on clarity, organization, and real-world application would have made this a much better starting point. As it stands, I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews