Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation

TLDR

The study of race and ethnic conflict has been hampered by inadequate, simplistic theories and a lack of sound theoretical apparatus, with many analysts abandoning serious theorization of racism. The paper argues that the absence of a structural theory of racism hampers research and proposes a new structural theory grounded in racialized social systems. The author reviews traditional and alternative approaches to racism, critiques their limitations, and develops a structural theory based on racialized social systems. The study concludes that racism should not be treated as a mental quirk, self‑evident, or purely ideological, but requires a substantive structural understanding.

Abstract

study of race and ethnic conflict historically has been hampered by inadequate and simplistic theories. I contend that the central problem of the various approaches to the study of racial phenomena is their lack of a structural theory of racism. I review traditional approaches and alternative approaches to the study of racism, and discuss their limitations. Following the leads suggested by some of the alternative frameworks, I advance a structural theory of racism based on the notion of racialized social systems. The habit of considering racism as a mental quirk, as a psychological flaw, must be abandoned. -Frantz Fanon (1967:77) he area of race and ethnic studies lacks a _ sound theoretical apparatus. To complicate matters, many analysts of racial matters have abandoned the serious theorization and reconceptualization of their central topic: racism. Too many social analysts researching racism assume that the phenomenon is selfevident, and therefore either do not provide a definition or provide an elementary definition (Schuman, Steeh, and Bobo 1985; Sniderman and Piazza 1993). Nevertheless, whether implicitly or explicitly, most analysts regard racism as a purely ideological phenomenon.