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Unyielding Positions

A Critique of the ‘Race’ Debate

University of California, Irvine, USA

What are the implications of the social constructionist insight about race for the political struggle against racism? This question has sparked a vigorous cross-disciplinary debate. At issue is whether the struggle to contain the damage done by racism is best served by rejecting the concept of race altogether, rehabilitating it, or partially dismantling it. I aim to accomplish three tasks here. The first is to provide a much-needed overview of this debate about race and essentialism. Second, I advance a critique of this debate, arguing that the main participants in this debate commit a shared error: they implicitly advance a binary white/non-white framework that falsely homogenizes the experiences of non-white groups and obscures the fact that differential racialization processes have generated a complex structure of multiple group positions in American society. Finally, I conclude by considering what strategies progressive scholars might employ in challenging the differential positioning of racialized groups.

Key Words: anti-racism • essentialism • positionality • social construction

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