Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots: Ritzer & Stepnisky Chapters 9-12

race

A social construction that classifies people according to phenotypic differences such as skin color, hair type, and eye shape

settler colonialism

A form of colonialism in which the colonizers establish permanent settlements in the colonies. Examples include the French colonies in what are now the United States and Canada and the British colonies in the United States, Canada, and Australia.

phenomenology

The philosophical study of subjective experience

dialectic of recognition

The intersubjective process through which people mutually recognize one another's identities, thereby creating self-consciousness; Works differently in different societies.

existentialism

A school of philosophy that emphasizes the importance of freedom and personal responsibility to human beings (Fanon).

racial-epidermal schema

A way of looking at and acting on people that prioritizes skin color and other so-called racial features (Fanon).

primitative accumulation

A process described by Marx in which the precious metals and raw materials taken from colonial possessions were used to fuel the early stages of capitalism

ideology

To Marxists and neo-Marxists, ideas that distract people from understanding the true causes of social inequality and human suffering

neocolonialism

The idea that even though most colonizing nations abandoned their colonies by the mid-20th century, the basic power structures of colonialism continue to operate under the form of neoliberal globalization.

postcolonial theory

A theoretical perspective that describes the cultural forces that enable postcolonial power and describes sources of potential resistance to that power.

discourse

A symbolic system that organizes and classifies the world (Foucault/Said)

critical race theory

A perspective centered in the study of the law and its relationship to the perpetuation of racism and racial domination

differential racialization

The idea that different minority groups are racialized in different ways at different times (critical race theory)

critical theories of race and racism

A set of theories that have much in common with critical race theory but are centered in the social sciences rather than in the study of the law. These theories focus on the way that racism and racial domination are perpetuated through multiple social institutions.

postracial society

The idea that race no longer plays a significant role in the social life of a society; specifically, some claim that race has played little role in American social life since the civil rights era (1950s–1960s).

racial formation

The idea that the concept of race is not natural but rather a social construction that has been formed over long periods of time (Omi and Winant)

split labor market theory

The theory that racial and ethnic tensions develop when owning classes (the bourgeoisie) pit workers (the proletariat) from different racial categories against each other (Bonacich)

racialization

The process by which phenotypic differences are made to matter in a socially significant way (Omi and Winant)

racial field

The totality of racial identities that exist within a given society as well as their relationships to one another (Emirbayer and Desmond)

racial capital

The kind of capital, and therefore power, that comes from being a member of a particular racialized group (Emirbayer and Desmond)

racial cultural structure

The symbolic organization of racial life (Emirbayer and Desmond).

racial collective-emotional structures

The group organization of feelings about race (Emirbayer and Desmond)

reconciliation

Attempts to overcome the damage of the colonial past and to establish equitable and fair relations between colonizers and colonized

indigenous place-thought

The idea that land is not only a backdrop to human action but is alive and interconnected with human and nonhuman agents (Watts)

dispossession of land

The removal of Indigenous persons from their traditional lands as well as the division and definition of land on European terms (Coulthard).

resurgence

The reinvigoration and regeneration of Indigenous life through Indigenous culture and ideas (Alfred/Coulthard/Simpson)