Abstract
This chapter tells a story about the concept of racism – how it was born, the meandering of its development inside and outside the social sciences – and concludes by speculating about its end. The concept of racism arose and gained currency in debates about Nazism in Europe. It then became firmly integrated into authoritative social science discourse, where its association with irrationality was cemented. The concept migrated into everyday discourse where it was powerfully deployed in critique, aided in no small measure by the authoritative clout lent it by the social science endeavor. In recent years, this authority has been undermined both by rigorously social constructionist treatment of racism as a strategic ‘social accomplishment’ or ‘identity performance’ and by conceptual inflation as privileged groups – the historical perpetrators of racism – claim to be its victims. Does this signal the end of racism – the chapter asks in conclusion – or will it find a way of rising above the cacophony of racism accusation and denial?
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