Publisher's Note

Pierre L. van den Berghe was born in Lubumbashi, the Congo, and has lived, studied and done field work in Europe, South Africa, the Congo, the United States, Mexico, and Guatemala.

He received his B.A. in Political Science from Stanford, and his Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard. He has taught at the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa; at the Sorbonne, Paris; at Wesleyan University, Connecticut; and at the State University of New York at Buffalo. At present he is Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington, Seattle.

His other published books include Caneville, The Social Structure of a South African Town; Africa, Social Problems of Change and Conflict; and Race and Racism, A Comparative Perspective .