A political-class perspective and theory for the study of racial stratification in the 21 st century: a revised and expanded version of the 1997 ABS presidential address

Abstract

In this article, I present historical and contemporary evidence of “political class” stratification by race in the U.S. I identify historical sources (e.g., see Rose, 1976, A Documentary of Slavery in North America. New York: Oxford University Press) that show that the founding fathers statutorily defined such classifications as “Blacks” and “Whites” and “slaves” and “free people,” and then legislated that “Whites” be the “free people,” and “Blacks” be the “slaves” in perpetuity. Most importantly, I present historical evidence showing that racial stratification did not come into existence through free marketplace competition as so many social scientist theorize; it came into existence and continued mainly by litigation and legislation. U.S. racial stratification is an estate system not a market-class system.