Racial formation theory
Racial formation theory is a sociological framework developed by Michael Omi and Howard Winant, primarily presented in their 1986 work, "Racial Formation in the United States." This theory emerged as a response to the inadequacies of previous academic explanations of race and racism, as well as political ideologies that oversimplified these issues by conflating race with other social categories like nationality or economic class. Racial formation theory emphasizes that race is not a static or biological fact, but rather a dynamic social construct that has evolved over time and varies across different societies.
The theory identifies two common misconceptions: the belief that races are fixed entities and the notion that race is entirely an illusion. Instead, it posits that race functions both as a social structure and a symbolic representation, shaped by historical and ongoing social struggles. Racial projects—efforts that allocate resources along racial lines—both create and redefine racial categories, highlighting the fluidity of racial identities. By framing racism as a specific racial project aimed at maintaining dominance based on race, this theory provides a lens through which to understand the complexities of racial discrimination and societal interactions in the United States. Overall, racial formation theory acknowledges the persistent impact of race in American life while recognizing its evolving nature.
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Racial formation theory
Racial formation theory was the outcome of a process of introspection by social scientists who had been frustrated by both academic attempts to explain race and racism and political ideologies that attempted to collapse race into other social categories, such as nationality or economic class. The theory was developed principally by sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant in their book Racial Formation in the United States (1986).
Racial formation theory avoids two mistakes in analyzing race in the United States. The first mistake is the tendency to view race and races as fixed social or biological facts, which is not plausible. Attempts to develop biological classifications that match social definitions of the races have failed. Different societies have defined race and races very differently, and all definitions have changed over time, often over the course of a single lifetime.
The second mistake attempts to correct for the first but overcompensates. In this view, race is wholly illusory, a fictional product of cultural representation. Omi and Winant argued that this perspective, however appealing to those who would rather live in a “color-blind” society, unrealistically suggests the remedy of merely ignoring or eliminating race and races—as if society could simply learn to do without race. The problem with this view is that race is such a fixture of American political, cultural, and economic reality that to pretend it does not exist would be to ignore all of its serious consequences for society, such as racial discrimination and segregation—particularly nongovernmental forms such as de facto segregation and hypersegregation, which are difficult to legislate against.
Race and racism have, in fact, been at the core of the American experience since the nation’s inception, and Omi and Winant argue that they always will be, although race is impossible to pin down as a fixed concept. The theory handles this contradiction by defining racial formation as the process that both creates the racial categories with which people identify and transforms these categories over time.
By this reasoning, race exists as both social structure and symbolic representation. Historically, the racial projects that seek to allocate various resources one way or another along racial lines are the same movements that create, impose, or change racial definitions. At any one point in time, these categories seem to most participants to be fixed and normal, a sort of common sense of race. However, that static appearance masks a turbulent undercurrent of racial projects. These projects take place at the macro level of society in the struggles of social movements and state policies and at the micro level in the daily social interactions and private battles of identity that all Americans face.
While describing race as a fluid concept reflecting the outcome of centuries of social struggle, racial formation theory defines racism more simply. Racism is a racial project that perpetuates domination based on categories of race. The theory thus allows for the ever-changing nature of race as a social construction while simultaneously establishing criteria for identifying and challenging racism as a problem to be combated.
Bibliography
Cole, Nicki L. "What Is Racial Formation Theory?" ThoughtCo., 12 Oct. 2019, www.thoughtco.com/racial-formation-3026509. Accessed 15 Dec. 2024.
Feagin, Joe, and Sean Elias. “Rethinking Racial Formation Theory: A Systemic Racism Critique.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 36, no. 6, 2013, pp. 931–60, doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2012.669839. Accessed 15 Dec. 2024.
HoSang, Daniel Martinez, et al., editors. Racial Formation in the Twenty-First Century. U of California P, 2012.
Jung, Moon-Kie, and Yaejoon Kwon. “Theorizing the US Racial State: Sociology since Racial Formation.” Sociology Compass, vol. 7, no. 11, 2013, pp. 927–40, doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12078. Accessed 15 Dec. 2024.
Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. Racial Formation in the United States. 3rd ed., Routledge, 2015.
Saperstein, Aliya, et al. “Racial Formation in Perspective: Connecting Individuals, Institutions, and Power Relations.” Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 39, 2013, pp. 359–78, doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071312-145639. Accessed 15 Dec. 2024.