Apropos the Idea of ‘Race’ … Again

Abstract

Indeed, the dispute about whether or not the term ‘race’ should be used within science to refer to populations characterised by particular genetic profiles continues to this day. Cox set out to construct a Marxist theory of 'race relations'. Consequently, when Cox was formulating his Marxist theory of 'race relations', he was doing so in a Eurocentric vacuum. When British academics began to take an interest in these domestic developments, they drew upon concepts, theories and political strategies derived from the United States and South Africa, all of which had 'race relations' as the object of analysis. The shift in Marxist theory away from the construction of a Marxist theory of 'race relations' towards an analysis of the expression and consequences of racism within the framework of a political economy of migration represented a major theoretical break. Hall refers to ‘different racial and ethnic groups’, suggesting that he employs ‘race’ to identify groups differentiated by biological characteristics.