Three Bad Ideas about Race in America

David Bernstein | 6.7.2024 10:51 AM

My forthcoming article, Three Bad Ideas about Race in America, has been posted on SSRN.

Here is the abstract:

In this Essay, prepared for a symposium honoring Brown v. Board of Education's eightieth anniversary, I examine and critique three influential propositions regarding race promoted by some academic theorists and pundits.

Part I discusses and rejects the notion that differences in socioeconomic status among different American subgroups are best explained by the power relationships groups have with the dominant white majority.

Part II considers the claim that racial categories define collective actors who inevitably have common interests and outlooks. This Part concludes that this idea is flawed and perhaps incoherent.

Part III addresses the proposition that white Americans should be encouraged to cultivate a "white racial consciousness" so........

© Reason.com