Abstract
The long standing insistence in Progressive circles that class and class alone plays a vital role in shaping the trajectory of global capitalism has limited discussions on the equally salient role played by race. This self-imposed omission may well be coming to an end. Even before the emphatic demands of the Black Lives Matter movement, critics of global capitalism have been calling for an end to class reductionism and a shift toward color consciousness in understanding it. This paper builds on some of these arguments by expanding Bourdieu’s ideas of symbolic capital to include race, and by incorporating legal notions of whiteness as status property put forth by critical legal scholars. When racial identities operate as forms of symbolic capital and status property, they drive the formation of split labor markets, foster colorism in employment and consumption, and heighten the racialized accumulation by dispossession across the planet. We conclude by considering some implications for the post-covid world.
Presenters
Pushkala PrasadProfessor, International Affairs, Skidmore College, New York, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Racialized Capitalism, Symbolic Capital, Status Property, Split Labor Markets, Colorism
