Negative societalisation: racism and the constitution of race

In: Wages of whiteness & racist symbolic capital, S. 57-96

Abstract

"Racism goes through various stages of development and it uses different patterns of social inclusion and exclusion. Since ancient times, these have been organized in pairs of opposites, which include, among others, the cultivated and the barbarians, the chosen and the outcasts, the civilised and the savages and finally the whites and the coloureds. Their logic turns the discriminated others into undifferentiated representatives of an inferior humanity. In comparison to them, the members of socially differentiated and hierarchically ordered societies can see themselves as a uniform and superior group. Even those who are economically and culturally declassed are therefore granted symbolic appreciation. This negative social integration requires the popularisation of racist stereotypes. The same applies to racial theory. Through the construction of races, such theory first develops an academic concept for the differentiation of humankind and the elevation of its so-called white part. Afterwards, whiteness is generalised and race is constituted as a social category. This is by no means only an ideological Operation from above. Rather, 'race' is closely connected to 'dass' and the lower social classes are significantly involved in its constitution." (author's abstract)