ANTH 23 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Racialization, Structuration Theory, Reverse Racism
Document Summary
Race: social mechanism invented during the 18th century to refer to those populations brought together in colonial america . Used to justify inequalities based on superiority/inferiority. Racial differences are socially constructed and reproduced and have no basis in biology. Differences to skin pigmentation do not correspond to any measurable biological differences. Doesn"t mean race isn"t important/doesn"t exist: differences in skin color affect socialization, expectations, and opportunity. Best known for his and michael omi"s theory of racial formation. Founder and director of uc center for new racial studies. Race is subject of contention and struggle at the level of social structure (winant 19) But the ways in which race is culturally figured and represented [and] becomes to be meaningful as a descriptor of group or individual identity, social issues and experience are also contested (19-20) Racial formation = permanent process of struggle which racial structuration and signification are linked.
