Racism and the sociological imagination

Bibliographic Data

ID5609686
AuthorsBob Carter (0009-0006-1019-8227), Bob S Carter (0000-0002-3586-1324, University of Warwick), Satnam Virdee (0000-0001-8995-0827, University of Glasgow)
Year2008
Volume59
Issue4
Pages661-679
Publication date2008-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-4446.2008.00214.x
PMID19035917
OpenAlexW2130001759
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited35

Our chief purpose in this article is to argue for a restoration of a strong notion of agency to sociological accounts of social relations, and particularly those concerned with group formation and conflict. We contend that much contemporary sociological writing on this topic continues to rely on the concepts of race and ethnicity as primary explanatory or descriptive devices. This has two important consequences: on the one hand it reproduces the powerful theoretical obfuscation associated with these concepts, whilst on the other it prompts the notion that human agency has only an illusory role as an intentional agent. Drawing on the intellectual resources of a Hegelian-inflected historical materialism and realism, we challenge both claims by arguing for a post-race, post-ethnicity sociology of group formation, one which allows a greater scope for agency in the determination of social life

Agency (philosophy · Epistemology · Ethnic group · Hegelianism · Materialism · Race (biology · Racism · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Gender Studies · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Dynamics