Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous IdentitiesForty years after the defeat of Nazism, and twenty years after the great wave of decolonization, how is it that racism remains a growing phenomenon? What are the special characteristics of contemporary racism? How can it be related to class divisions and to the contradictions of the nation-state? And how far, in turn, does racism today compel us to rethink the relationship between class struggles and nationalism? This book attempts to answer these fundamental questions through a remarkable dialogue between the French philosopher Etienne Balibar and the American historian and sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein. Each brings to the debate the fruits of over two decades of analytical work, greatly inspired, respectively, by Louis Althusser and Fernand Braudel. Both authors challenge the commonly held notion of racism as a continuation of, or throwback to, the xenophobias of past societies and communities. They analyse it instead as a social relation indissolubly tied to present social structures--the nation-state, the division of labour, and the division between core and periphery--which are themselves constantly being reconstructed. Despite their productive disagreements, Balibar and Wallerstein both emphasize the modernity of racism and the need to understand its relation to contemporary capitalism and class struggle. Above all, their dialogue reveals the forms of present and future social conflict, in a world where the crisis of the nation-state is accompanied by an alarming rise of nationalism and chauvinism. |
Contents
Preface | 1 |
Is There a NeoRacism? | 17 |
Racism and Nationalism | 37 |
History and Ideology | 86 |
Household Structures and LabourForce Formation | 107 |
Class Conflict in the Capitalist WorldEconomy | 115 |
Fruitful and Unfruitful Emphases | 125 |
From Class Struggle to Classless Struggle? | 153 |
Class Racism | 204 |
Racism and Crisis | 217 |
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Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities Étienne Balibar,Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein Limited preview - 1991 |
Common terms and phrases
accumulation Africa ambiguous analysis antagonisms anti-racism anti-Semitism argued become behaviour Benedict Anderson bourgeois bourgeoisie called capital capitalist world-economy century class consciousness class racism class struggle colonial Coloured concept conflict conjuncture constitute contemporary contradictions crisis cultural discourse division of labour dominant economic effect ethnic groups Etienne Balibar example existence exploitation fact French function historical system household human idea ideal identity ideology Immanuel Wallerstein immigration individuals institutions intellectual internal labour force labour-power language least less liberal logic Marx Marx's Marxism mass means mode of production movements myth nation form nation-state nationalist nature Nazism organization origins paradox Paris particular phenomenon political population possible practice precisely proletarian question race racial racism reality relations of production revolution role sense sexism situation so-called social formations social relations society status status-group structure surplus-value theoretical theory tion tradition transformation unity universalism wage labour workers world-system xenophobia