This volume takes a critical approach to the study of prejudice and discrimination by focusing on the role of elites in the reproduction of racism. Van Dijk's main thesis is that racism in North America and Europe is primarily `top down' and preformulated by the elites, and is not only - as the elites would have it - a `popular' phenomenon.

The book opens with a wide-ranging study of the ways parliamentarians in the Netherlands, Germany, France, the UK and the USA debate immigration, refugees and civil rights, subtly contributing to the negative image of minorities. It goes on to examine how managers of international corporations talk about affirmative action and minority employment. A chapter on racism in social science textbooks focuses on the educational representation of minorities, and is followed by an analysis of academic sociology introductions used in the UK and the USA. The influence of these political, corporate, educational and academic elites, their text and talk, is finally studied in relation to the fundamental role of the press in the reproduction of racism.