Racism as a Social Construct

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the prevalence of racism in American culture, historically and currently. Capitalism, in the writer's view, is the source of racism as well as other kinds of inequality. The writer cites Karl Marx's theories on the relationship between capitalism and alienation, and explains how a Marxist would answer the question of why the average person not benefiting from the capitalist system could still be a racist. The writer questions the effectiveness of affirmative action policies in promoting equality, and concludes with the opinion that a good start to a "color blind" society might be made if America were to move far to the left economically, socially and politically, and become a social democracy.

From the Paper:

"Capitalism promotes inequality because there is only so far that one can go up without pushing somebody else down along the way. The simplest way for a capitalist to maximize profits is to have high productivity and keep costs low. The biggest expense for the capitalist is the cost of labor. The cost of labor can be controlled by controlling the worker. There are many ways that the capitalist can control the worker that show the relationship between capitalism and racism. One example that Johnson uses in his book is that the capitalist could coerce a white worker to accept lower wages by threatening to replace them with cheaper black labor. This certainly shows how continued inequality among races could be advantageous for the capitalist. The idea is that if attention can be kept on race relations, then nobody, white or black, will realize that they are in it together and that they are all oppressed by the upper class."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. "Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation." American Sociological Review Vol. 62 No. 3 (June, 1997) pp. 465-480
• Johnson, Allan G. Privilege, Power, and Difference. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006.
• Marx, Karl. Karl Marx: Selected Writings. Trans. David McLellan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

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