Race vs Class: No Politics but Class Politics
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- Опубліковано 14 чер 2023
- Race vs Class: No Politics but Class Politics
Walter Benn Michaels
Professor of English
University of Illinois Chicago
Adolph Reed, Jr.
Professor Emeritus of Political Science
University of Pennsylvania
host:
Lily Jamali
JRN'07, Senior reporter, Marketplace
06/14/23
Denouncing racism and celebrating diversity have become central to progressive politics. For many on the left, it seems, social justice would consist of an equitable distribution of wealth, power and esteem among racial groups. But as Prof. Adolph Reed Jr. and Prof. Walter Benn Michaels argue in their latest incisive collection of essays, the emphasis here is tragically misplaced. Not only can a fixation with racial disparities distract from the pervasive influence of class, it can actually end up legitimizing economic inequality. As Reed and Michaels put it, “racism is real and anti-racism is both admirable and necessary, but extant racism isn’t what principally produces our inequality and anti-racism won’t eliminate it”.
Reed and Michaels discuss their recent compilation of essays on inequality, along with a newly commissioned interview with the authors. These writings eschew the sloppy thinking and moral posturing that too often characterize discussions of race and class in favor of clear-eyed social, cultural, and historical analysis. Reed and Michaels make the case here for a genuinely radical politics: a politics which aspires not to the establishment of a demographically representative social elite, but instead to economic justice for everyone.
Time is allocated for Q&A.
*Note: Dr. Adolph Reed Jr.'s Video feed was not properly recorded and is missing in this presentation.
Great conversation. The usual suspects will misrepresent the message here, but they should be ignored. Reed and Michaels are a huge breath of fresh air.
58:55 "I think one of the problems that we have now, and this wasn't Sanders's fault... but people who came into politics through his election campaign often brought a Schoolhouse Rock kind of understanding of how electoral politics works... and the Justice Democrats approach, for instance, is very limited... You can't go very far like that. There's no way around connecting with working people who are actually hurting out there."
Spoken like a true champion of the working class.
Absolute legends. I yearn for a day when this wisdom is considered common sense rather than villified from all sides.
Fascinating discussion. Thank you, Lily Jamali.
@ 27:23 these two seem to only discuss racism and discrimination, however Kwame Ture and others have always said racism is about power!
I learned a lot from this conversation. Thank you all.
Nobody argues that under ancient Egyptian slavery, "justice" is defined by "whipping Israelites and non-Israelites equally". If you saw a Pharaoh whipping Israelites way more than other groups, and you said, "Hey, that's not fair. Whip them only as much as you whip the others", you're not doing *evil* per se, but you're not solving anybody's problems.
Thank you! Brilliant 💯
@ 11:42 he says du bois gave the best example of the social construction of race which only speaks to race in the context of the USA and totally dismisses race globally. That is an egregious error!
Great stuff
@ 58:25 this man says that he has no criticism of sanders at all ! Things are becoming laughable. 😂
Again, your criticisms of Sanders are...? Interested in hearing them from someone who found him "laughable."
He also claims to know what black men think race is @ 11:55 .
Are the workers a race ie the proles ?
No. Workers are a class, not a race. And there is only one race among humans.
@@beyondaboundary6034 i was joking ie being ironic ect
Before capitalism ppl were born into certain professions, so you had long linages that were frozen in the same class, that's what perpetuated the existence of different races/ethnic groups, since the 1600s this started to break & ethnicity became little more than just tradition & memory where as before it had clear class charactet.
I see why he’s popular. He denies the centrality of race and racism in American life. Anyone who says it’s class not race is either naive or dishonest. Race is the master class. It is the class from which all others flow. It’s the single biggest determinant in one’s life in a race-based society.
Engage with the argument substantially instead of calling everyone who disagrees with you a naive liar.
Weird. Then how come race as a form of identity, a concept that is only 500 years old, didn't prelude class distinctions?
Binding yourself to ideologies of ascriptive differences only further codifies the entrenched notions of conservatives and neoliberals; that race and culture is a folk knowledge of being biological and fact so. Enjoy your ahistorical analysis
Well, then explain the 100 million exploited rednecks who die in poverty, along with their black fellow workers. It's a capitalist society, btw.
Well, then explain the 100 million exploited "whites" who die in poverty, along with their black fellow workers. It's a capitalist society, btw. (Hint.)