Racial Theories in Social Science: A Systemic Racism Critique

Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 13
Introduction: Post-Racial America and Social Science: Reality or Myth?......Page 14
Social Science Knowledge and Theories of Racial Matters......Page 17
A Brief Introduction to Systemic Racism Theory......Page 19
Challenges and Limitations of this Book......Page 22
A Brief Overview of Book Chapters......Page 24
Notes......Page 26
Part I: Social Sciences’ Historic Misframing of “Race”......Page 28
1. The Twin Births of Social Science and Race Theory......Page 30
Reassessing Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer......Page 32
Heirs of Comte and Spencer: Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, Max Weber......Page 41
Notes......Page 47
2. Race Theory and the Rise of Mainstream Social Science......Page 50
Robert Ezra Park’s White-Framed Sociology of Race......Page 51
Gunnar Myrdal’s “American Dilemma” Perspective......Page 57
Milton Gordon: Refining Assimilation Theory......Page 60
Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan’s Problematic White Framing of Racial Groups......Page 62
Conclusion......Page 64
Notes......Page 65
Part II: Contemporary Mainstream Social Science and Race Theory......Page 68
3. Changes in the Field of Race Studies......Page 70
Divisions in Racial Theory Since the 1960s......Page 72
Societal Contexts of Social Science......Page 74
Colorblindness and Post-Raciality in Past and Present Social Science......Page 80
Critical Social Science Responses to Colorblindness and Post-Raciality......Page 84
Conclusion: White Racial Framing in Social Science......Page 86
Notes......Page 89
Mara Loveman’s Question: “Is ‘Race’ Essential?”......Page 91
Rogers Brubaker’s Race Without Races......Page 93
Andreas Wimmer on Ethnic Boundary-Making......Page 96
Mustafa Emirbayer and Matthew Desmond: Race and Reflexivity......Page 98
Social Science Attempts to Bypass or Dismantle Research on Systemic Racism......Page 104
Distinguishing “Race” and “Ethnicity”......Page 106
Conclusion......Page 111
Notes......Page 112
Class-Based Analyses of Race and Racism......Page 115
William J. Wilson: The Declining Significance of Race......Page 116
Insights and Blind Spots in Wilson’s Class-based Understandings......Page 119
John Solomos: A Neo-Marxist Deconstruction of Race......Page 123
A Critique of Neo-Marxist Understandings......Page 127
The Cultural Eclipse of Racial Matters......Page 131
Ethnicity’s Sublimation of Racial Matters: Contemporary Theorizing......Page 133
Nationality and Nationalism Theory: Insights and Problems......Page 136
Conclusion......Page 139
Notes......Page 140
6. Race and The Genome: Biosocial Theories of Race......Page 143
Pierre van den Berghe: Biosociality and Race......Page 144
Problematizing van den Berghe’s Sociobiologistic Understanding of “Race”......Page 145
A Genomic Challenge to the Social Construction of Race......Page 147
The Emergence of Socio-Genomics: A Systemic Racism Critique......Page 151
What’s Biology Got to Do With It?......Page 153
Current Biosocial and Socio-Genomic Explanations of Racial Matters......Page 157
Conclusion......Page 160
Notes......Page 161
7. Assimilation Theory’s Dominion in Social Science......Page 163
“Triple Package”: Assimilation Theorizing in Pop Social Science......Page 167
Assimilation Theory in Contemporary Mainstream Social Science......Page 171
Nathan Glazer’s Qualified Defense of Assimilation Theory......Page 172
Rethinking Assimilation Theory: Richard Alba and Victor Nee’s Understanding of Race......Page 175
Rubén Rumbaut: Paradoxes of Assimilation Theory......Page 184
Deconstructing Assimilation Theory......Page 187
Conclusion......Page 190
Notes......Page 191
8. A Systemic Racism Critique of Racial Formation Theory......Page 194
Formation Theory’s Evasion of Systemic Racism Analysis......Page 196
Limitations of Formation Theory’s State-Centered View......Page 203
Realities of White-Racist State Formation......Page 205
Contestation of State and State-Facilitated Oppression......Page 209
Persisting Systemic Racism: Hurdles to Racial “Democracy” and “Progress”......Page 212
Conclusion......Page 215
Notes......Page 217
Part III: Systemic Racism Theory: Background and Overview......Page 220
9. Critical Black Theory: Foundations of Systemic Racism Theory......Page 222
Key Features of Critical Black Theory......Page 223
Pre-Civil War Critical Black Theory......Page 227
Critical Black Theory since the Civil War......Page 235
Early African American Sociologists......Page 239
Ida B. Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and Marcus Garvey......Page 241
Black Power and the 1970s Renaissance in Critical Black Thought......Page 248
A Brief Overview of Recent Critical Theory......Page 252
Notes......Page 256
10. Systemic Racism Theory......Page 261
Important Theoretical and Empirical Influences......Page 262
Race-Gender Intersectionality: Black Feminist Scholars......Page 263
Socio-Historical Analyses......Page 266
Other Contemporary Influences......Page 267
Systemic Racism, the White Racial Frame, and Counter-Frames......Page 270
Research Methodologies and Strategies......Page 275
Centrality of White Racism Analysis......Page 279
Foregrounding and Analyzing Ordinary and Elite Whites......Page 281
A Brief Review: The Systemic Racism Critique of “Race” Theory......Page 287
Notes......Page 288
Conclusion: Persisting Systemic Racism, the Empirical Reality......Page 294
Notes......Page 301
Index......Page 302