Race, Racialization and Racism: A New Theoretical Framework

Abstract

The uneasiness sociology experiences with all concepts that stem from race has led to the growth of a number of competing and overlapping conceptions. In trying to preserve the issues of racism and ‘social race’ as objects of study, scholars studying racialization constantly deny the reality of differences which, in racist discourse, are regarded as stemming from the existence of several human races. This view is fostered by the dominant—and credible—argument that the term ‘race’ is nothing but a socially determined construct. The use of the term ‘racialization’ thus allows one to avoid the use of the term ‘race’. However, the dubious scientific meaning of the concept of ‘race’ does not in itself make the term ‘racialization’ a more appropriate analytical tool in sociological analysis. The term ‘racialization’ is itself deficient if there is no possibility to chart the results of the process of racialization, namely, race as a lived experience, along with the ideas that inform the process of race formation—or racial knowledge.