Race
Loveman, Mara. "Is
"Race" Essential". American Sociological Review 64.6 (1999):
891-898.
Web.
4 Apr. 2016.
In
an article titled “Is race essential,†Mara Loveman asserted that in as much as
he agreed on the Importance of improving the understanding of the causes,
consequences, and mechanisms of the racial phenomena, he raised questions of
the structural theory of racism suggested by Eduardo. According to him, it is
not the best analytical framework as it experienced some shortcomings. They
include confounding categories with groups, it reified race and also maintained
the unwarranted analytical distinction between race and ethnicity. The gaps made it difficult to understand the
historical and contemporary meaning of race. Loveman suggests that to avoid the
pitfalls, race should be abandoned as a category of analysis (891-893).
On
the shortcoming of confounding categories with groups, Loveman argues that the
framework by Eduardo treats as an automatic the move from the imposition of
racial categories to the existence of concrete groups that symbolize the types.
The context by Eduardo hinges on race as both a category and as a social group
(892-893). Loveman claims that though it is the case in some historical
contexts, it does not necessarily mean that membership in a particular category
is an automatic membership to a given social grouping or social identities.
The
article further points to the pitfall by Eduardo of reifying race, the
analytical framework adopted by Eduardo heavily depends on the reification of
race in that races are real social groups and collective actors. The limitation
of the reified conceptualization of race by Eduardo becomes visible as they try
to address the problem of race in Latin America. He claims that race becomes
less significant in countries such as Brazil, Cuba, and Mexico but that the
countries still have racial problems. In the case, race is treated as a thing
with varying salience or importance but not in meaning (894).
Eduardo
further experiences a pitfall on its unfounded insistence in distinguishing
analytically between race and ethnicity. The only justification for analytically
distinguishing between ethnicity and race is based on an empirical
understanding of their differences. Loveman further asserts that without an
explicit analytical definition, the realms of cases of radicalization is only
presented as well as understood as a set of contexts in which languages of race
are operative and also has some social consequences for given groups of people
(897).
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo.
"Rethinking Racism: Toward A Structural Interpretation." American
Sociological
Review, Vol. 62.No.3 (1997): pp. 465-480. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.
In
the article Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation, Eduardo
Bonilla-Silva primarily argues that racism, as is defined by the mainstream
social scientists, does not offer enough theoretical foundation for the
understanding of the racial phenomenon. He suggests that unless a structural
framework is developed to address the issue on racism, analysts will remain
knotted in ideological views of the issue (470). Without a form of structural
interpretation, they are bound to continue to hold an irrational view just like
the mainstream social scientists or reduce the class structure like the Marxist
interpreters. Eduardo suggests that racism ought to be studied from the
viewpoint of racialization. He further contends that racialization of society
happens first then it develops a life of its own, becoming a social relation in
itself. The race is a social construct and, therefore, interacts with gender
and class structuration within the social system. After the race is stratified,
race becomes an independent criterion for the vertical hierarchy in the society
and therefore, the diverse races may experience positions of subordination and
also superordination within the society and also may develop some differing
interests (472-480).
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo.
"“The Essential Social Fact Of Race.â€". American Sociological Review
Vol.
64,.No. 6 (1999): 899-906. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.
In
response to the criticisms of his theory by Loveman, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
wrote an article titled “the essential social fact of race.†He argues that
Loveman claimed in a typical Weberian fashion in her accusation of categorical
confounding on Eduardo’s theory. Eduardo claims that in defense of her theory,
races exist as a social phenomenon wherever there is a social structure in
place. He further asserts that racial class consciousness as is the case with
gender and race is always a fundamental matter in all social collectivities
(899-901).
Eduardo
further addresses Loveman’s accusation of reification of the race. He labels it
as her misunderstanding of social constructionist. In his defense, Eduardo
asserts that race just as is the case with other socially constituted
categories is a mode of human creation and, therefore, demonstrates a high
degree of the malleability as well as permeability that is not seen (901).
Eduardo
recognizes Loveman’s group making versus the comparative study of racial
structures. He argues that Loveman’s suggestion that boundaries are the
foundation for sociological inquiry into the reproduction, construction or
decline if symbolic boundaries are in agreement t with Eduardo’s structural
theorization (904). However, Loveman’s strategy of using them is the major
issue at hand because she does not ground them on the analysis of race and
ethnicity in the socio-historical processes of the past and present that is
essential to creating them as social categories. He argues that her analytical
strategy is therefore not entirely faulty but is profoundly anti-sociological.
Conclusion
I
am in agreement with Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s structuralism theory of racism. It
is because he reviews the traditional approaches and also some other
alternative approaches to the study of racisms and then openly discusses and
documents their limitations. The theory is also very much well informed and
advanced due to its reliant on suggested leads from other frameworks to advance
a structural theory of racism that is well based and supported by the notion of
racialized social systems.
Works
cited
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo.
"Rethinking Racism: Toward A Structural
Interpretation". American
Sociological
Review, Vol. 62.No.3 (1997): pp. 465-480. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo.
“The Essential Social Fact Of Race.â€. American Sociological
ReviewVol.
64,.No. 6 (1999): 899-906. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.
Loveman, Mara. "Is
"Race" Essential". American Sociological Review 64.6
(1999): 891-898.
Web.
4 Apr. 2016.
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