This collection of essays provides a background for ongoing discussions about multiculturalism, cultural politics and urban cities. Their subjects include the social construction of racial and ethnic differences, the impact of the state on these relations and the globalization of race.

Part 1 Introduction: putting "race" in its place, Michael Peter Smith and Joe R. Feagin. Part 2 The social construction of racial and ethnic difference: dictatorship, democracy and difference - the historical construction of racial identity, Howard Winant; who are the "good guys"? the social construction of the Vietnamese "other", Michael Peter Smith and Bernadette Tarallo; the rising significance of status in US relations, Martin Sanchez Jankowski; African American entrepreneurship and racial discrimination - a Southern Metropolitan case, Michael Hodge and Joe R. Feagin. Part 3 Race, segregation, and the state: black ghettoization and social mobility, Norman Fainstein; historical footprints - the legacy of the school desegregation pioneers, Leslie Baham Inniss; retreat from equal opportunity ? the case of affirmative action, Cedric Herring and Sharon M. Collins; demobilization in the new black political regime - ideological capitulation and radical failure in the postsegregation era, Adolph Reed Jr. Part 4 Globalization and the new boundaries of race and ethnicity: the real "new world order" - the globalization of racial and ethnic relations in the late-20th century, Nestor P. Rodriguez; the effects of transnational culture, economy and migration on Mixtec identity in Oaxacalifornia, Michael Kearney; models of immigrant integration in France and the United States - signs of convergence?, Sophie Body-Gendrot. Part 5 Race, ethnicity, and community power: when the melting pot boils over - the Irish, Jews, blacks, and Koreans of New York, Roger Waldinger; beyond politics by other means? empowerment strategies for Los Angeles' Asian Pacific community, Harold Brackman and Steven P. Eries; political capital and the social reproduction of inequality in a Mexican origin community in Arizona, Edward Murguia; the continuing legacy of discrimination in southern communities, James W. Button.