Social Relations and Racial Inequality

Abstract

Up to this point we have concentrated our analysis on two themes: first, on how various theoretical paradigms have attempted to account for the phenomenon of racism and its role in shaping social and political relations in contemporary societies; second, on the various historical contexts within which ideas about race were developed and on the historically specific and transformative nature of racialised ideologies and racist exclusions. Both of these themes are closely interrelated to a somewhat broader question, namely the linkages between racism and forms of social inequality that have been characterised as either racial in origin or racial in character. In developing our account of the theoretical and historical dimension we have inevitably touched upon the ways in which racial ideologies and practices have helped to structure social and political relations in particular societies, and have in turn been shaped by specific sets of social relations or national political contexts. Indeed it is clear that much of the sociological literature on race and racism has been concerned with this question. At the same time, the question of racial inequality has been a core preoccupation in public policy debates about racism.