From the racialization of finance to the financing of anti-racism

Tracing the US financial industry's investments in closing the racial wealth gap

Bibliographic Data

ID4141498
AuthorsEmily Rosenman (0000-0002-7230-7939, Department of Geography, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume56
Issue1
Pages253-269
Publication date2024-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0308518x231212076
OpenAlexW4389617453
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited49

This paper examines profit-seeking investments that US financial industry actors have made in the name of racial justice since the summer of 2020. This trend, which builds on the proposition of "sustainable" finance that private profits and social benefits can coexist, is known in the industry as racial justice investing. To understand how the industry frames racial justice as an object of financial intervention, I draw from theories of social reproduction, racial capitalism, and social finance to analyze the historical and contemporary processes through which racial injustice is conceived in economic terms as a "gap" between the wealth of white and racialized households. Then, I analyze the political economy of these investments, focusing on how solutions to the wealth gap are oriented around extending credit and economic inclusion to racialized households and business owners. Ultimately I illustrate how the financial industry's investments in closing the racial wealth gap largely sidestep questions of power and, paradoxically, justice that animate many contemporary racial justice movements

Capitalism · Economics · Financial services · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Racialization · Racism · Sociology · Community Development and Social Impact · Homelessness and Social Issues · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Finance