Abstract
ABSTRACT While colourblind racism has defined the post-Civil Rights era, there has been little evaluation of how everyday social actors conceptualize racism following the recent rise in overt racism and racist hate crimes. To evaluate if colourblind racism remains a central interpretive framework, I analyse 60 interviews with young adults about their experiences of racism. I argue that overt racism experienced online is a key feature of respondents’ everyday lives, which challenges their adoption of a colourblind framework. Yet, few classify their experiences as racism. I use Essed’s concept of entitlement racism to explain how respondents make sense of this “racists without racism” situation – by invoking the “right to be racist” online. Though colourblind frameworks are not used, the racial order is nevertheless ideologically justified by entitlement racism. By showing how racism is experienced online, this work holds implications for how sociologists theorize and address racism in the contemporary era.
Published Version
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