What do we mean by a racialized society? We have spent the first few pages introducing some of its manifestations. But we can define it as a society wherein race matters profoundly for differences in life experiences, life opportunities, and social relationships. It is a society “that allocates differential economic, political, social, and even psychological rewards to groups along racial lines; lines that are socially constructed” (Bonilla-Silva 1997: 474). We can also look at it as a society that has institutionalized favoritism for some groups over others.
