Dissertation
The Occlusion of Empire in the Reification of Race: A Postcolonial Critique of the American Sociology of Race
(2018)
Abstract
In a series of case studies, I problematize the reification of race in the American
Sociology of race from a postcolonial perspective. I argue prominent theories within the
American sociology of race tend to essentialize race as a cause of racial inequality in the
United States. These theories assume the existence of racial categories and then discuss
how other entities become racialized into racialized social systems (Bonilla-Silva 1997),
or racial projects (Omi & Winant 1994). These theories emphasize national structures,
but occlude empire. I argue the occlusion of empire in the American sociology of race,
particularly in theorization of racial categorization, is problematic. Empire is the structure
that links race to class inequality, and produces race as a social category of exclusion.
Therefore, a sociological theory of American racial inequality, which does not analyze
imperialism as a structure that produces race, and rather focuses solely on nationalstructures,
or a definition of capitalism severed from imperialism, cannot provide a
thoroughly structural explanation for the persistence of racial inequality in the United
States.
Disciplines
Publication Date
June, 2018
Degree
Ph.D. Sociology
Comments
© 2018 Julia Christine Bates
Citation Information
Julia Bates. "The Occlusion of Empire in the Reification of Race: A Postcolonial Critique of the American Sociology of Race" (2018) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/julia-bates/3/
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