Book Review: Shopping while Black: Consumer racial profiling in America

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/2153368721996438
• Author: Justin Clayton
• Date: 01 October 2023
• Subject Matter: Book Review

Book Review

Book Review

Gabbidon, S. L., & Higgins, G. E. (2020). Shopping while Black: Consumer racial profiling in America.

Routledge. 147pp, £34.99 (pbk). ISBN 978-0-367-48224-4.

Reviewed by: Justin Clayton , University at Alb any School of Crimi nal Justice, NY, USA

DOI: 10.1177/2153368721996438

Shopping While Black: Consumer Racial Profiling in America is a moderately brief

book that presents the history of and research on consumer racial profiling (CRP).

However, its mild brevity is not indicative of its depth. Despite being to the point, the

book is an intellectually dense and comprehensive examination of its topic. It should

be noted that Distinguished Professor Shaun L. Gabbidon and Professor George E.

Higgins’ book is a part of the Criminology and Justice Studies series, which publishes

books intended for undergraduate and graduate students, but written in a fashion that

may also be of benefit to a lay audience. Although it is the authors’ recommendation

that Shopping While Black is best suited for students and researchers working in the

domains of Criminology, Black Studies, Ethnic Studies, Sociology, Security Studies,

and Law, I concur that the book would additionally be a worthwhile introduction to

CRP for mainstream readers seeking to acquire knowledge on racial profiling in

shopping.

According to Gabbidon and Higgins (2020), consumer racial profiling “occurs

when a shopper is singled out for unwarranted bad treatment/service and/or criminal

suspicion based on their racial/ethnic background” (p. xii). Although it is the authors’

position that CRP is a subject sorely in need of more research, they meticulously sift

through a substantial amount of quantitative and qualitative research throughout the

course of their book. They begin by unpacking the historical context and development

of CRP. While walking readers through this, the authors note that profilers did not

always intuitively link black people as the primary suspects of shoplifting. The book

illustrates that, in fact, prior to the mid-20th century, wealthy white women were

thought to be the most frequent retail thieves. Before that time period, blacks were

typically unable to enter white-owned brick and mortar businesses due to the Plessy v.

Ferguson Supreme Court decision of 1896—which of course legalized segregation. It

was after the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, as well as the 1960s Civil

Rights Acts, that CRP became a widespread phenomenon. Many white business

owners were unhappy with being forced to serve the black customers they saw as

nothing more than violent criminals, and consequently, CRP became a normal

experience for black consumers.

Race and Justice

ªThe Author(s) 2021

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