Racism and the sociological imagination

Area of Science:

• Sociology
• Social Theory
• Group Dynamics

Background:

• Contemporary sociology often overemphasizes race and ethnicity in explaining social relations, group formation, and conflict.
• This reliance perpetuates theoretical confusion and diminishes the role of human agency.
• Existing frameworks limit the understanding of intentional action in social processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To argue for the restoration of a robust concept of agency in sociological analyses of social relations.
• To challenge the continued use of race and ethnicity as primary explanatory tools in sociology.
• To propose a new sociological framework for understanding group formation and conflict.

Main Methods:

• Drawing on Hegelian-inflected historical materialism and philosophical realism.
• Critically analyzing the theoretical limitations of race and ethnicity as sociological concepts.
• Developing a post-race and post-ethnicity theoretical perspective.

Main Results:

• Demonstrates how current sociological approaches obscure rather than clarify social phenomena by overusing race and ethnicity.
• Highlights the illusory role assigned to human agency within race- and ethnicity-centric sociological models.
• Establishes the theoretical groundwork for a sociology that centers human intentionality.

Conclusions:

• A post-race, post-ethnicity sociology is necessary to overcome theoretical obfuscation.
• Restoring a strong notion of agency is crucial for a more accurate understanding of social relations and group formation.
• This revised sociological perspective allows for greater scope for agency in shaping social life.