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Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Sociology
Sociology
Duke Box 90088, Durham, NC 27710-0088
2200 West Main Street 700, Durham, NC 27705

Overview


I am trained in class analysis, political sociology, and sociology of development (globalization). However, my work in the last 20 years has been in the area of race. I have published on racial theory, race and methodology, color-blind racism, the idea that race stratification in the USA is becoming Latin America-like, racial grammar, HWCUs, race and human rights, race and citizenship, whiteness, and the Obama phenomenon among other things. In all my work, I contend that racism is fundamentally about "racial domination," hence, racism is a collective and structural phenomenon in society (see my 1997 ASR on this matter).

Current Appointments & Affiliations


James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Sociology · 2018 - Present Sociology, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor of Sociology · 2006 - Present Sociology, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

In the News


Published November 1, 2022
New NSF-Funded Postdoc Program Looks to Reshape Computer Science Education
Published July 7, 2021
After a Career of Challenging Racial Myths, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Isn't Slowing Down
Published June 16, 2020
Living While Black: Raw Discussions on Race at Duke and in America

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Recent Publications


Rethinking racism again: theorizing the racial structure “for real”

Journal Article Ethnic and Racial Studies · January 1, 2026 In this paper I attempt to improve the theorization I advanced in “Rethinking Racism: Towards a Structural Interpretation” (1997) by accounting for what makes the structure work “for real”. To make the structure visible, I do the following three things. Fi ... Full text Cite

Mechanisms and mechanics of racial hierarchy: focusing on the “How” of racism

Journal Article Ethnic and Racial Studies · January 1, 2026 In recent years, there have been robust efforts to advance conceptualizations of racial hierarchies. This new theoretical and empirical scholarship has generated debate about the why and how of racism. In this special issue, authors are responding to our c ... Full text Cite

US should reject color-blind racial ideology.

Journal Article Science (New York, N.Y.) · July 2025 Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


The Alliance for Interdisciplinary Innovation in Computing Education-Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (AiiCE-PRF)

ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2022 - 2026

(I)legitimate Indigenous: Ethnoracial Classification and Deservingness of Affirmative Action Program Beneficiaries in Mexico

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by American Sociological Association · 2025 - 2026

JM40321 Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions (1944) - Fellowship

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of Cambridge · 2024 - 2025

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Education, Training & Certifications


University of Wisconsin, Madison · 1993 Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin, Madison · 1987 M.A.
University of Puerto Rico · 1984 B.A.