Abstract
Race is central to economic life, but race is not central to economic sociology. We argue that economic sociologists should treat racism as a constitutive, structuring force, analytically co-equal with capitalism, patriarchy and nationalism. Our article has three aims. First, we document how canonical and award-winning works of economic sociology do not discuss race and racism, and do not engage with the contemporary sociology of race. Second, we identify six key insights from the sociology of race and suggest how they could influence economic sociology: the emergence of race out of racism, an understanding of racism as structural, the role of whiteness, the intersections between racism and other systems of oppression, the ideology of colorblind racism and the fundamental connections between racism and capitalism. Third, we conclude by discussing recent research that bridges the two subfields and lays the groundwork for an understanding of ‘racialized markets’ and ‘racialized economies’.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1171-1199 |
| Number of pages | 29 |
| Journal | Socio-Economic Review |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 1 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank Ellen Berrey, Mikell Hyman, Beth Popp Berman, Victor Ray and Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, as well as the members of Brown University’s Work, Organizations and the Economy workshop for comments on previous drafts.
Publisher Copyright:
VC The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press and the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics. All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Colorblind racism
- Economic sociology
- Intersectionality
- Racial capitalism
- Structural racism
- Whiteness