\\Jt.D
..15-1
AMERICAN HISTORIANS
INTERPRET THE PAST
EDITED BY ANTHONYMOLHO
AND GORDON S. WOOD
palNCETONUNIVERSITYPRESS
PRINC1!TON.NEWj1!aS1!Y
CHAPTER
:ioldstdn, -Foucault
,Cessions,.
Historyand
,
ed., New Cultural History,
Explaining Racism in American History
>lis, 1983). chap. 4.
~ theory. seeJohn McGowan,
THOMASC. HOLT
the African-American intellectUal and political activist W E. B. Du Bois
Dusk of Dawn his intellectual odyssey of fifty-odd years. He noted
his graduation from Harvatd in the 18905. he had thought of -[t]he
[as! a matter of systematic investigation and intelligent underThe world was thinking wrong about race. because it did not know.
II history and cultural studies
Experience,he Social Logic of the
ner,
-History
without
-- Consequently,he decided to addressthe problem by studying
facts,any and all facts, . . . and by measurementand comparisonand re-
Pa.,
Ute historical narratives that follow the
>riographr See LaCapra, RethinkingInttlL983).
1 and Richald Harvey Brown and of the
lirection.
ry," in 1JIeStattS of 'Theory'; History.Art,
rk. 1993).
n Keller as Indicativeof the new ~~
the fony-three books
InAmencanHistory21 (~~
1993);
l1mesUterary Supplement(Man:h 18,
Iistorical work being done in the sod8l
cientistslooked to eachother ratherthan
ds within rather than acrossdisciplinary
fig thePast.
~
..
. a poor Negroin central Georgia.SamHose.had killed his landlord'swife. I
a careful and reasoned statement concerning the evident facts and
to the Atlanta Constitution office. . . . I did not get there. On the way
Sam Hose had been lynched. and ~
said that his knuckles were
: fanher down on Mitchell Street.along which I
..
was walking.
. I tUrned back to the University. I began to turn aside from my
Muchlike Du Bois,we-scholars and laypersonsalike--are still frustratedby
.' to explain racismor most racial phenomena.Indeed.
our intelleCtUal
problemsare not unlike thoseOn Boisconfrontedalmosta century ago:Is racisma phenomenonbest understoodascausedby misinformation
. ,
or by deep in'ational urges and psychologicaldysfunction?Or
pemaps:we havemade someprogressin explaining the origins
but not its reproduction,There is a growing consensusthat the orl: is, to developments
!
Thus we havecometo understandracismnot assome-
or "epiphenomenal," something outside normal historical
: thusbistori-
notions of racism-in historical literature aswell as in lay thoUghtRmain in many other respectsstubbornly natUralized.Even someof the best
b1storicalliterature and some of the more prominent historical treatmentsof
.
racial history written since 1960 illustrate the intellectual difficuIThat is to say;very often they offer insightful, sometitnessubtle,
I
"~
}'VLtOm!CWY
wummaung examinations of the development of ractal ideas, '
the "historical- detennination of ractal phenomena, and even of the..
'"
construction-of racial concepts, only to regress to forms of explanation that ~~;
at their core often functionalist, occasionally reductionist, and sometimes ~;i/,
biologistic.
waves of white and nonwhite immigrat
~ing
of "race" or provoking new episO<
Similar phenomena-of guest workers and
;":
Indeed, explaining racist phenomena confronts contemporary social theorj\
with some of its most profound challenges, intellectUal and political. It puts in,
play some of the crucial issues we confront in attempting to elaborate a social,:
theory adequate to contemporary society. It illuminates especially our difficulty
in reconciling materialist with symbolic/discursive approaches to explaining so- .'.
cial phenomena, and of detennlning the locus and nature of their interaction or '
fit. It exposes a fundamental discontinuity between most behavioral explanations ~3
sited at the individUal level of human experience and those at the.1evelof society :'
and social forces.
".
ObvioUsly these intellectual problems are neither exclusively Am~rican nor
distinctively the province of historians. Indeed, many of our key insights into
strategies of explanation for racial phenomena come from social scientists other
than historians, or historians other than Americans.4 Nonetheless, national historiographies of racism are in some respects quite divergent. British, French, Ger-~
man, and Brazilian discussions of race, for example, have developed very dlffer.
ently; with different objects of study, prompted by different political and social
concerns, and inforDled perhaps by different historical and intellectual trajectories. A thorough comparative examination of these distinctive national discussions is beyond the capacity of this-and perhaps any-brief paper to undertake,
but even cursory; selective observations on some of the differences and similarities might be suggestive of the distinctive intellectual and institutional terrain on
which the American historiography has flourished.
Formal discussion of the problem of race in America, dating at least since
Thomas JefIerson'sNotes on the State of Virginia (1785), has from the start carried
a certain concreteness,wherein the social history of settlement, nation building,
and public policy were explicitly and inextricably linked to issues of racial identifications and distinctions within its own national territory. This has given a kind of
prominence, even urgency to American discussions of race throughout its history
that one finds among European scholars largely in the post-World War n era.
Consequently; perhaps, race in America has acquired heretofore-for Europeans no less than for Americans-a kind of "exceptionalist" character; exceptionally rigid, pervasive, and violent. As with most "exceptionalist- assumptions, the
notion that American racism was somehow unique rested on a very selective
parsing of the historical record. Although American racism was profoundly
shaped by the existence of slavery on its own soil, for example, European societies were also thoroughly implicated in colonial slave regimes that strained
their laws, their politics, and their social mores. As decolonized subjects have
sought refuge in their respective metropoles in the post-World War II era, those
repressed historical issues have also emerged-and with a vengeance. In America, the land of immigrants, race relations have been indelibly marked by succes-
~:'
~
:i
'11
,,'
"
:,
,.,..
;:,:
"c
eXaminationsof race and immigration amon~
~titth century that raise analytic problems co
cussions.5In the Iongut-durtt, therefore, Eu
1naYwell reveal more convergence than di
unique exemplary of the profound analytjc
a century ago than simply the earliest.
It is true, no11£theless,that the historio~
discourseon race has been shaped by its dis
conuoversy it gave rise to, and the Civil
decisivelyAmerica's history and American
effortshistorians could never completely se
issUesof national integrity. The issues raisec
evenwhen they themselves were invisible.
victims of American racism, such as Native
Asian-Americans, notwithstanding the clea
~tories in the formation of the American D
African-American experience has formed tl
studiesof all other ractalizing experiences ir
successiveAfrlcan-American movements fO1
1960sand 1970s laid the basis for the re~
ican historical scholarship. Since the 1960s,
less on the traditional issues of sectional P'
on the institutional and experiential qualit
cipation and its aftermath now focus muc
tionallegislative factions than on the evolu
systeIDS.As a result of these trends, the Afr
their racial victimization-has emerged at
torical experience.
Recapturing the experience of racialized
with an explicit examination of racism a:
phenomena remains largely implicit in m\
can-Americans, Native Americans, Moo,
Rather than attempt a broad survey of t
therefore, 1 will focus on some of the
problematic of racism explicitly and that
explanation. For our purposes the major a
racism can be effectively summarized und
paradigm, that is, the notion that racism i:
uct of thought; (2) an economistic or mate
is a function of economic exploitation or
digm, that racism arises from pathologie:
minds of individuals; and (4) a cultural
.
velopmentof racial ideas,of
Ja, and even of the -social
formsof explanationthat are
:tionist. artd sometimeseven
; contemporary social theory
:ctual and political. It pu\S in
tempting to elaborate a social
inates especially our difficulty
~ approaches to explaining s0d nature of their interaction or
[l most behavioral explanations
and those at the level of society
[ther exclusively American nor
many of our key insights into
:>mefrom socialscientists
other
t1S~
+ Nonetheless, national histodivergent. British, French. Gerlple, have developed very differby different political and social
1i5torical and intellectual ttajecthese distinctive national discus)5 any-brief paper to undertake,
1e of the differences and similariectual and institutional terrain on
\tw.
in Atnerica, dating at least since
(1785), has from the start carried
:Jry of settlement, nation building,
bly linked to issues of racial identiII territory. This has given a kind of
sions of race throughout its history
ly in the post-World War 11era.
s acquired heretofore-for Europexceptionalist- character; exceptionst -exceptionalist- assumptions, the
unique rested on a very selective
American racism was profoundly
wn soil, for example. European socolonial slave regimes that strained
~..,.,,1n"i7rd subjectS have
.-
EXPLAINING
&ACISM'
109
stve waves of white and nonwhite immigration, with each wave redefining the
meaningof "race" or provokingnew episodesof -racial-
tensionor both. But
si~r
phenomena-of guest workers and ex-colonja~
stimulated reexaminations of race and immigration among European scholars in the late twentieth century that raise analytic probleIIIS comparable to the older American dtscussions.5 In the Iongue-durte, therefore, European and American race relations
may well reveal more convergence than divergence; America may be less the
unique exemplary of the profound analytic difficulties Do Bois sketched almost
a century ago than simply the earliest.
It is true, nonetheless, that the historiographical trajectory of the American
discourse on race bas been shaped by its distinctive history. Slavery, the sectional
controversy it gave rise to, and the Civil War that destroyed it have defined
decisively America's history and American historical studies. Despite their best
efforts historians could never completely segregaterace from these fundan1ental
issues of national integrity. The issues raised by African-Americans were present,
even when they themselves were invisible. Arguably this was less true for other
victims of American racism, such as Native Americans, Mexican-Americans, and
Asian-Americans, notwithstanding the clear importance of their respective histories in the fonnation of the American nation. For this reason, perhaps, the
African-American experience bas formed the. template-rightly or wrongly-for
studies of all other racializing experiences in America. FOTmuch the same reason,
successiveAfrican-American movements for civil rights and cultural revival in the
19605and 1970s laid the basis for the reexamination of ra,ceand racism in American historical scholarship. Since the 19605, studies of slavery have focused much
less on the traditional issues of sectional politics and southern nationalism than
on the institutional and experiential qualities of slavery itself. Studies of emancipation and its aftennath now focus much less on arcane struggles among nationallegislative factions than on the evolution of repressive social and economic
systems.As a result of these trends, the African-American experience-especially
their racial victimization-has emerged at center stage in the larger national historical experience.
Recapturing the experience of racialized groups is not synonymous, hOwevtT,
with an explicit examination of racism as such. Thus the aplanation of racjal
phenomena remains laIgely implicit in much of the historical literature on African-Americans, Native Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Asian-Americans.
Rather than attempt a broad survey of the American historiography as such,
therefore, I will focus on some of the major texts that have addressed the
probletnatic of racism explicitly and that have deployed exemplary strategies of
explanation. For our purposes the major approaches or paradigms for explaining
racism can be effectively summarized uDder four rough headings: (1) an idealist
t.;; paradigm, that is, the notion that ra,cismis a consequence of racist ideas, a prod~jc~ ~f thought;(2) an economistic or tnaterialist paradigm. the notion that racism
...
. ---1_'.~.;~-,...
I'nmnPtirinn:
(3) a psychological
para-
,
than one
or evenall of them. But their separationallows for a clearerpictureof
how the "triggeringmechanism"of raceis envisionedin each.
The Idealist Paradigm. The simplicity of the syllogism that racist ideas lead to ',-:,~
racist actions is powerful and ubiquitous. It has provided the most common \~;
analytic framework for both popular and academic analysesof racism. As Du Bois ,1
explained, before the Sam Hose incident he, too, had been convinced that racism ~
was simply a matter of ignorance and its solution required only new and better ~
information and right thinking. In shott, people had the wrong ideas about race, ;
and they could simply be educated out of those ideas. The problem is that the
exact causal relationship between ideas and behavior is not nearly as uncomplicated as this argument assumes.Ideas are not autonomous but mediated by social
structures and processes.
One of the more comprehensive studies of this genre is Reginald Horsman's
Race and Manifest Destiny.6 Horsman traces the evolution of racist ideas from
European originators of Aryan and Anglo-Saxon myths of racial superiority to
their descendantSin America. He shows rather convincingly how various intellectual and political leaders took up or rediscovered elements of the old myths
and rearticulated them in the new American context. The ideas of a great westward march of progress out of India and across the seas, of the need for racial
purity, and so forth all found utility and resonance as justifications for enslaving
Africans, exterminating Native Americans, and taking the land of Mexicans.
But there is an almost studied ambiguity in Horsman's discussion of historical
causality. He seems on the mark when describing the very plasticity of European
intellectual traditions that permitted "re-inventions" of those traditions in the
Americas. The Irishman, for example. "a lazy, ragged, dirty Celt when he landed
in New York," would become "the vanguard of the energetic Anglo-Saxon people" once he reached California.7 But at other moments it is not entirely clear just
what the explanatory status of "ideas" is. They appear at times to be nearly autonomous entities, nourished by-but not created by-historically specific social
contexts. They are utilitarian, integral, and self-contained; they "fell," they were
"used," they could "assuage."
The new [racial] ideasfeU on fertile ground in the 1830sand 18-iOs.In a time of
rapid growthand change,with its accompanyinginsecuritiesand dislocations,many
Americansfound comfon in the strengthand statusof distinguishedracial heritage.
The new racial ideology could be usedto force new immigrants ~oconform to the
prevailingpolitical, economic,and socialsystem,and it could also be usedtojustify
the suffe~ or deathsof blacks, Indians, or Mexicans.Feelingsof guilt could be
assuaged
by assumptionsof historicaland scientific inevitability.8
At times they are plastic ideological instruments consciously deployed to
achieve certain political and material objectives-like Indian removal or the conquest of Mexico. And yet again, they sometimes appear to arise out of individual
The EconomisticParadigm. At first bl
appear to offer a more reliable exph
Bois, referring to African~American
tion of white folk to oppress us." Sir
of some people to oppress or disC1
nomic oppression lies at the root 0
There are tWObasic forms of th
classesas cynical exploiters; anotl
reactionaries to black competition.
interest of a roling class to exploi1
are less able to fight back, eithel
exploitation (slavery for example)
other workers and therefore beco
workers become the main oppre
racial other offers direct or pote
resources and a vulnerable target
There is little doubt that then
tions in which these explanatio
tensions and outburstS, but gent
countS of either the original prtime. Alexander Saxton'sexamir
.
,.
Sincetheseapproaches
arenot
syllogism that racist ideas lead to
has provided the most common
~mic analysesof racism. ASDu Bois
>0,had been convinced that racism
ltion required omy new and better
>lehad the wrong ideas about race,
lOseideas. The problem is that the
>ehavior is not nearly as uncompliautonomous but mediated by social
,f this genreis Reginald Horsman's
the evolution of racist ideas from
axon myths of racial superiority to
h.erconvincingly how various intelscovered elements of the old myths
l context. The ideas of a great west:lOSSthe seas. of the need for racial
,nance asjustifications for enslaving
nd taking the land of Mexicans.
in Horsman's discussion of historical
ibing the very plasticity of European
Lventions" of those traditions in the
:y, ragged, dirty Celt when he landed
'd of the energetic Anglo-Saxon peo~rmoments it is not entirely clear just
'hey appear at times to be nearly au:reated by-historically specific social
self-contained; they "fell," they were
i in the 18305 and 18405. In a time of
ring insecurities and dislocations. many
l status of distinguished racialheritage.
rce new immigrants to COnfOrDlto the
;tem, and it could also be UStdto justify
)f Mexicans. Feelings of guilt could be
entinc inevitability.8
~
RACISM.
III
psychologicalneeds,to be projectionsof and deflectionsfrom guilty consciences
pursuing a not-so-manifestdestiny:
But even as Horsmandemonstrateshow preexistingracist ideasrationalized
racialoppressionand inequalityin nineteenth-centuryAmerica,his evidencealso
revealshow new ideas or new tWistson old ideas developedout of particular
ideologicalconjuncturesand historical confrontations-in other words, in some
ii1Stances
the inequality and oppressioncame first. For example,Indians were
seenaspotentiallywhite by ThomasJefferson;they representednot savagerybut
innocence,an enduring emblem of nature and the wildernessEuro-Americans
wantedto tame.Thus, in markedcontrastwith his ideasaboutAfricans,Jefferson
could urge a governmentpolicy designedto encourageIndians to be civilized
and assimilated.With the growth of the cotton trade,however,other southerners
cameincreasinglyto seeIndians as barriers to economicprogressbecausethey
occupiedsomeof the best cotton lands of the South. So under AndrewJackson
they were forcibly removedfrom theselands,many of them-like the Seminoles
in Florida-with great violence and brutality: Concurrent with this expulsion
theredevelopeda strikingly differentview of Indians:not naturalbut savage,not
candidatesfor eventualassimilationbut for extermination.9
Ideas,then, are not autonomousfrom materialand political realities.In some
instancesthey shapeour behavior;in othersthey are alteredin responseto what
we do. In still other casesthey appearto haveno relation at all to what we do.
Theyare certainly relevantto any explanationof raCism,but seemnot in themselvfSto be adequateexplanationsfor racist phenomena.
ay rely on combinationsof more
tion allowsfor a clearerpicture of
isionedin each.
instrUments consciously deployed to
:tives--like Indian removal or the con:times aooear to arise out of individual
EXPLAINING
,I
,~
,oi
TheEconomisticParadigm. At first blush, the brute realities of economic interests
appear to offer a more reliable explanation of racist behavior. These are what Du
Bois, referring to African-Americans, called the -rational, conscious detemlination of white folk to oppress us." Simply stated, it is in the clear economic interest
of some people to oppress or discriminate against other people, and such economic oppression lies at the root of racial oppression more generally:
There are two basic forms of this argument, however: one blames the ruling
classesas cynical exploiters; another blames the white working class as vicious
reactionariesto black competition. In the first case,the argument goes, it is in the
interest of a ruling class to exploit a "racialized" workforce because the workers
are less able to fight back, either because racism rationalizes or justifies their
exploitation (slavery for example), or because they are divided from and against
other workers and therefore become easier to control. In the second case white
workers become the main oppressors because in a racially divided society the
racial Other offers direct or potential competition for jobs and other economic
resourcesand a vulnerable target for attack.
There is little doubt that there are specific historical and contetnporary situations in which these explanations are especially powerful in explaining racist
tensions and outbursts, but generally they offer unsatisfactory or incomplete acCoUntsof either the original process of differentiation or its reproduction over
time. Alexander Saxton'sexamination of white workers' reaction to dtinese labor
J.
~
twenUCUl
the
in
labor
labor has become increasingly
redu
exclude the linkage betWeen racial tI
terlal and economic life. but that a
I2cism's development or its matUri~
original sin-the
actions that mar~
rween white and black-how
do ~
bered body?
I:xamining
ing
how
economic
a
rada]ized
forces
social
and
order
Structural
is
constituted;
conteXts
how,
is
for
essential
example,
to
understandthose
Euro-
AmericanandAsian-American
workerswerebroughtinto anarenaof confliain
..
the first place. But once the precipita~
economic cause or friction is removed,
why does racism continue to be reproduced in the SOciety?Once Africans or
Asians or Mexicans ceaseto be an imponattt reservoir of labor-as slaves, shareIi..)
croppers, or cheap industrial workers-why does radal hostility continue and in
t;
fact often increase?These questions cannot be answered by analyses that simply
'~!
~duct' race to class. For most of the nineteenth century cenainly the competition -1blacks posed to "white- jobs was not proPOnionate to the violent responses of
""::
white workeIS-«t least not in the Nonheast, where African-American workers
were few in number and largely excluded from growth industrieS.12And clearly;
all groups who are economically exploited or economic competitors are not
thought of or treated the same. As Du Bois observed bitterly in the early 1930s,
,
WhitesasweDasblackswereattackedfor ~
;
scabsand strikebreakers,but the
white scabs were attacked to scare them off or recruit them into the unions; the
black scabs were attacked to kill them.13
Edmund S. Morgans explanation of the develoPmmt of slavery and racism in
colonial Virginia represents a more subtle model for integrating materia1ist aDd
ideological analyses to explain racist phenomena. In addressing that perennial
chestnut of which came first, racism or slavery, Morgan argues convindng1y that
whatever the racial attitudes or prejudices of white planters in seventeenthcentury Virginia, their aCtual treatment of African and white labor was not nearly
so differentiated as it would become in the late colonial period. The transformation in their attitudes and treatment he traces to material and demographic
changes in the colony; Africans were reduced to slavery when the life expectancy
of workers increased to a point where it was profitable to own a slave for life as
opposed to an indentured servant for a term of years; and when the political and
military pressure exened on the colony by a growing Oonger-living) sector of
landless white ex-indentured servants made it safer to subjugate Africans to slavery than to hire more white laborers.I.
.
-
"
(
ThePsychologicalParadigm. In his
idealist and materialist explanation
Bois turned to what he called .age
scious habit and inational urges.
within the province of psychologic
Dent historical works drawing on 1
sized some variant of Freudian ana
cal studies, the psychological argt
individual human beings are evade
sion, an outsider. Thus the coromc
.oppression..
One tnfiuentlal example of the ,
ysis to the history of racism in AIr
historian, Kovel makes explicit ml
employ: He argues, among other
nesswith dirt and excrement tog
childhood development-if unre
objects of ~
and invention,
Although Kovel goes on to aU
to the larger social and cultUral
ical extensions to the social IC\
such, Kovel's explanation expOSt:
nations--how does one use ind
behaviors? The only answer-u
aggregate of the individual; erg
individuals.
There is reason to doubt that
individual and social phenomeJ
that the social forms the individ'
major problem is that purely p:
behavior; that is, the psycholog
theories are generalized over all
in reality (or function) like bic
have finally come to seerace as
asked to reverse field and exp
Although Kovel and other pro
~
.
IY capitalists in the creation and
; convincingly demonstrated, as
mg the working class. But conout as the "racial- Other (rather
IS found at various moments in
.tself once the original causewas
Ideological domains. As he notes
glement of an economic conflict
EXPLAINING
aACISM.
113
labor in the twentieth century, down to the late twentieth century when black
labor has becomeincreasinglyredundant. Again, no effectiveexplanationcan
excludethe linkage betweenracial thought and practiceand the changesin material and economic life, but that alone is inadequateto a full explanationof
racismsdevelopmentor its maturity.Again, after concedingthe reasonsfor the
original sin-the actions that marked and institutionalized the differencebetween white and black-how do we explain Sam Hose'sbroken and dismemberedbody?
ganizational cleavagesprecluded
ntexts is essential to understandl; how, for example, those Euroought into an arena of conflict in
lmiC cause or friction js removed,
in the society? Once Africans or
:servoir of labor-es slaves, share)e5racial hostility continue and in
answered by analyses that simply
century cenainly the competition
ionate to the violent responses of
, where African-American workers
:n growth industries.l2 And clearly,
or economic competitors are not
bserved bitterly in the early 19305,
1&scabsand strikebreakers, but the
>r recruit them into the unions; the
:velopment of slavery and racism in
lodel for integrating materialist and
,mena. In ad~
that perennial
~ry;Morgan argues convincingly that
; of white planters in seventeenthmcan and white labor was not nearly
late colonial period. The transforma:races to material and demographic
d to slavery when the life expectarlcy
as profitablcto own a slave for life as
n of years; and when the political and
If a growing (longer-living) sector of
e it safer to subjugate Africans to slavins the diffe~ntial treatment of white
and racism, an argument of this fonn
reproduced itself throughout another
"h,.-v nf ~harecropping.
throughwage-
The PsychologicalParadigm. In his dissatisfaction with the inadequacy of both
idealist and materialist explanations for .the red ray. that crossed his path, Du
Bois turned to what he called "age-long complexes sunk now largely to unconscious habit and irrational urges.- The unconscious and the "irrational- fall
witltin the proVince of psychological explanations, and most of the most prominent historical works drawing on this approach to explain racism have emphasized some variant of Freudian analysis.uln its general form, as found in historical studies, the psychological argument is that personal anxieties produced in
individual human beings are evaded by projecting them onto an object of aggression, an outsider. Thus the common causal triad runs: .repression,- .projection,.oppression. ..
One influential example of the direct application of such a psychological analysis to the history of racism in America is the work of Joel Kovel. Although not a
historian, Kovel makes explicit much of the analytical apparatus many historians
employ. He argues, among other things, that the -natural- association of blacknesswith din and excrement together with sexual anxieties stemming from our
childhood development-iC unresolved-will be projected onto black people as
objects of fantasy and invention, and that this helps explain racist impUlses.16
Although Kovel goes on to attempt to relate these purely individual traumas
to the larger social and cultural orders, the latter appear to be mere metaphorical extensions to the social level of individual-level, psychological traits. As
such, Kovel's explanation exposes one of the biggest hurdles for all such explanations-how does one use individual-level phenomena to explain social-level
behaviors?The only answer-usually implicit-is
that the social is merely an
aggregateof the individual; ergo, a sick society is merely a collection of sick
individuals.
There is reason to doubt that this particular image of the conJ:}ectionbetween
individual and social phenomena actually works. In fact, it is more persuasive
that the social forms the individual rather than the other way around. The other
major problem is that purely psychological approaches tend to natUralize racist
behavior; that is, the psychological mechanisms described in child development
theoriesare generalized over all times, peoples, and places. As such, they become
in reality (or function) like biological explanations.17 So in a period where we
havefinally come to see race as socially constructed rather than biological, we are
asked to reverse field and explain racism in terms of innate human processes.
Although Kovel and other proponents of such approaches would not deny that
SOCIalstructures shaped individual psychologies, their explanations do not explain the exact relation between these two levels and thus imply a psychoanalytical remedy for racial iDs. The implications of this for any theory of social change
and for any effon to change society are very discouraging, to say the least.
Wmthrop Jordan's White over Black, which attempts to explain the origins of
American racism, reflects some of the conceptUal and analytical difficulties encountered in the historical application to racial phenomena of the typical psychological approach. IS Much like Kovel, Jordan locates racism's origins in the
derogatory attitudes that white people had toward blackness long before they
encountered Africans. These attitudes were reflected in their language, which
was emotionally coded to denigrate anything dark or black, and in the formation
of their sexual personalities, whereby repressed fantasies were projected omo
blacks. Thus the Elizabethan Englishmen's sexual anxieties and guilt, projected
onto West Africans, gave shape to racial -attitudes,- which were passed on to
their English and American descendants. But since the subsequent generations,
like Thomas Jefferson's, appear to have reproduced the original racist ideas in
strikingly similar ways to the Elizabethans, history becomes more a backdrop for
than a factor in the processJordan describes.
As with other psychological explanations, Jordan's suffers from a lack of clarity
as to the exact connection between the individual pathologies and the social
action they purport ultimately to describe and explain. Jordan attempts to get
around the problem by invoking parallel economic and social developments: that
is, that Africans were enslaved becausethey were needed to work American sugar
and cotton plantations; that English psychological pathologies regarding race
were exacerbated or stimulated by societywide cultural anxieties durirlg the age
of discovery, and so forth. But in his explanatory schemes, all these phenomena
are largely peripheral to and certainly are not the driving force behind the development of racist thought and action. Thus time and time again Jordan resorts to
the sheer shock effect that the Africans color purportedly excited and its res0nance at the deepest levels of white psyches.19This has the effect of -naturalizingthe process and thus cuts against his otherwise commendable efforts to historicize it. Consequently, despite his gestures toward tnaterial or sociological explanations, Jordan's analysis relies at its base on the mechanism of differentiation
and projection found in individual, unconscious minds, that is, on their innate
properties. We are left with the inference, for example, after the long exploration
of ThotnaS Jeffersons psychosexual problems, that we need only project Jeffersons mind onto a larger screen to have the American mind, or at least the white
male version of it.
How then do we get from the individual to the social level of analysis? Clearly
the kind of structural analysesnecessarily involved in any econotnic or tnaterialist explanation tend to rely too much on rational-consctous motivations, or they
downplay human agency and become too schematic, even deterministic. Also,
such approaches cannot account for the irrational, the unconscious aspects so
prevalent in the long history of race in America. Psychological explanations, on
the other hand, can be enlightening about how racial notions function in individ-
ua1 pathologybut
seemincap'
gateSof individual tendencies.
gency and complexity, a sense
to becomenatUralized. What ~
cat at both levels-that is, wb
belief, and action can be telat.
nomena and vice versa.
The Cultural Paradigm. My nc
scaffolding over a broad tenai:
works that share cenain pIeD
social formations. It is neithel
outside) nor reducible to or th
part of a given culture. often
culture and producing that cu:
of this approach is that they
both)}O
Ronald Takaki's Iron Cages~
works within this genre. Tak2
American racism in the evoh
century. The American Revoh
British coloniSts to a secure seI
to pursue their manifeSt desti:
absenceof aristocratic hieraxc
ated by the market. which all(
as well as material rewards a
depended tIansparendy on :
Weber. Takaki argues that su
anxieties and guilt. the oudet
ties. who were deemed to bar1
In the North and the South
emphasis on the need to devel<
the ideology of capitalism and
ente:rprise. . . . [T]be black 8ch:
not, and more importantly-w
American society, racial and c
over black bad an organic relat
white society.21
Although the structure of"]
psychological paradigm. its Sl
tuW. Culture spawns and sm
is also the product of such i
ideology, defining it as 8a sru
about human nature and SO(
.
s, their explanations do not exand thus imply a psychoanalytils for any theory of social change
couraging, to say the least.
ttempts to explain the origins of
l1al and analytical difficulties enII phenomena of the typical psym locates racism's origins in the
ward blackness long before they
:flected in their language, which
ark or black, and in the formation
ed fantaSieswere projected onto
roa1anxieties and guilt, projected
tudes," which were passed on to
since the subsequent generations,
duced the original racist ideas in
tory becomes more a backdrop for
)rdan's suffers from a lack of clarity
cvidual pathologies and the social
ld explain. Jordan attempts to get
Jmic and social developments: that
~reneeded to work American sugar
Jogical pathologies regarding race
le cultural anxieties during the age
tory schemes, all these phenomena
the driving force behind the develIne and time again Jordan resorts to
Ir purponedly excited and its resoI This has the effect of -natUralizingrise commendable effons to historiward material or sociological explaon the mechanism of differentiation
ious minds, that is,on their innate
: example, after the long exploration
15,that we need only project Jeffer\merican mind, or at least the white
EXPLAINING
RACISM.
lIS
ual pathologybut seemincapableof explainingcollectiveacts,exceptasaggregatesof individual tendencies.In either form, deterministicschemeslosecontingenc;yand complexity,a senseof historical development,and racismtendsagain
to becomenaturalized.What is needed,then, areexplanationsthat aresymmetrical at both levels-that is, where the connectionsbetweenindividual thought,
belief, and action can be related to or explainedin relation to societywidephenomenaand vice versa.
The Cultural Paradigm. My notion of a .cultural paradigm" is a loosely framed
sCaffolding over a broad terrain. By this rubric I intend to convey some sense of
works that share certain premises: Racism is a product of historically specific
social formations. It is neither exogenous to the society (i.e., coming from the
outSide) nor reducible to or the effect of something else Oike class). Rather it is a
part of a given culture, often in some sense, simultaneously a product of the
culture and producing that culture. (Indeed, one of the dangers of some variants
of this approach is that they tend to totalize racial phenomena or culture or
both)}O
Ronald Takaki's Iron Cagesis one of the more stimulating and provocative early
works within this genre. Takaki attempts to locate the development of mature
American racism in the evolution of American culture during the nineteenth
century: The American. Revolution ruptured the moorings that held the former
British colonists to a secure sense of self, place, and destiny; even as it freed them
to pursue their manifest destiny of material and geographical expansion. In the
absenceof aristocratic hierarchies, sOcial relations were more thoroughly mediated by the market, which allocated assessmentof spiritual value and self-worth
as well as material rewards and punishment. Material and moral successnow
depended transparently on self-discipline and self-denial. Drawing on Max
Weber, Takaki argues that such a social regime must perforce foster repressed
anxieties and guilt, the outlet for which was projection onto the colored minorities, who were deemed to harbor all the repressed sins of the white Other.
In the North and the South,the racial ideologyof the black "child/savage,"in its
emphasison the needto developself-restraintand accumulategoods,complemented
theideologyof capitalismand gavespecificsupport to Jacksonianindividualismand
enterprise.. . . [T]he black .child/savage"representedwhat whites thought they were
not, andmoreimportantly-what they must not become.. . . In the total structureof
Americansociety,racial and classdevelopmentsinterpenetratedeach other. White
overblackhad an organicrelationshipto classdivisionsand conflicts formingwithin
white society.21
:0 the soctallevel of analysis?Clearly
lvolved in any economic or materialional-conscious motivations, or they
schematic, even deterministic. Also.
rational, the unconscious aspectSso
erica. Psychological explanations, on
ow racial notions function in individ-
~
Although the structure of Takaki's argument is very similar to that within the
psychological paradigm, its substance and media are less psychological than cultural. Culture spawns and sustains political, economic, and social institutions; it
is also the product of such institutions. Indeed, Takaki confIates culture with
ideology, defining it as "a shared set of ideas, images, values, and assumptions
about human nature and society,. and his access to it is through the cultural
~
What is the relation betweenculture and matenallUe{ ffiaeea,JUStwnat 15CUl-'i
ture?What is ideology-and its relation to culture and materiallife? How canwe!
most usefully think about the nature of hegemonyand agency,or the rolesof.!
elitesand massesin shapingracial phenomena?
1
In sorting out thesequestionsasthey emergein the historiographicalliterature
on race,it might be useful to recognizethe distinctionsbetweenand the inter- ~
dependenceof the three concepts:culture, ideology,and discourse.Although i
there are many possibledefinitions of theseconcepts,for our purposesculture
might be taken quite simply asthe way we live, or ratherthe practicesby which
we live (doing); ideologyas the way we understandhow we live (knowing); and
discourseas the way we communicatethose understandings(making known).
The cultural is intimately linked to both our materialand nonmateriallives-our
economy,our various power strUctureS,our technologies,as well as our social
and spiritual life. It involves all those systemsthat mediate our relationswith
other human beingsand with the natural world. The ideologicalcomp~hendsall
the ways in which we understand,men~ly order and reorder,manipulate,or
visualize those densesystemsor webs of interrelationships.The discursiveinvokes that complex systemof symbolsby which we code and thus are able to
transmit what we know and what we feel.As suchit is an essentialwindow oruo
the ideologicaland the cultural landscape.It not only reflectsmeaningbut createsit by forging new connections,metaphoricalassociations,and so forth. And
most important, it is not just the languageor verbalsystembut includesa whole
array of nonverbalsignsand symbolsaswell. All three concepts,then, are social
and collective as well as individual. Without the individual level, they are deprived of life; without the sociallevel, they are deprived of meaningfuleffect.M
All three are connectedin cottlplex ways,therefore,but should not be conflated.
Someof the most receruwork on racial and classformation in nineteenthcentury Americahasbegunto approachthis more complexlevel of discussion}S
In Wagesof Whiteness,for example, David Roedigerhas demonstratedhow
"whiteness"and "blackness"were mutually constitutedwithin the selfsameprocessby which a white working classwas formed in nineteenth-centuryAmerica.
Although Roediger'sanalysisbearsa family resemblanceto Takaki'sof that same
period, in Roediger'sstory the culture of white workersis not simply the artifact
or by-product of white elite hegemony.White workers were subject to stresses
and strainsimposedby economictransformationsraining down from above,but
they also made their own decisions,adjustments,and mistakes.They createda
vibrant vernacularlanguage,lively popular theater,and streetparadesthat were
democraticoutlets for their joys and grievances.But thesesameforms of discourse,culture, and ideologydemeanedand stigmatizedblacks-and often fostered direct physical attacksupon them. Most demeaningof all, perhaps,was
blackfaceminstrelsy,which constitutedat oncea cultural institution, an ideologIcal production, and a stt of discursivepracticethat would stretchwell into the
~
twentieth century}6
"-"J'
,"--
processesas well. Humans make 1
to make it in any old way they pIe;
which they construct racial meani
the material conditions that histc
lows spacefor agency and choice
does not arise out of some nat\:
mined" in the arena of social rela1
Furthennore. this approach SUI
(ice in relation to all manner of c
sOcialpractices.
Thus racism is
outside the realm of ordinary at
social world. itS potential is ever
the persistent tendency to biolol
somehow in our genetic makeuJ
historical is also to attempt to rec
ical with the material.
What the historiography of n
that an effective analysis of facia
sociological, material and nonm
mix of approaches. however, b,
individual action, that under ce
dividual and social, material aT
ences. values. ideas, behaviors
constitUted out of the social ar
power. Put another way, the II
and individual subjectS are bod
we understand-and explainstand social action moregenen
era! will be powerfully mfonne
1. WE.B. Du Bois, Dusk of Da
(1940; reprint, New York, 1975),
2. This chronology is implicit,
For its most explicit form, see 1\
(Baltimore, 1995), which argues 1
3. For a sharp critique of theSt
Race in American History," in Rt
Woodward, ed. J. Morgan KoUSSt
"Racismin America,"NewLtft RI
"EXPLAINING
~nre of historical explanation}3
allife? Indeed, just what is cul~ and material life? How can we
ony and agency. or the roles of
in the historiograpbicalliterature
tlnctions betweenand the intereology.and discourse.Although
mcepts.for our purposescu1turr:
. or rather the practicesby which
:andhow we live (knowing); and
lnderstandings(making known).
lterlal and nonmateriallives--our
echnologies.as well as our social
s that mediateour relationswith
i. The ideologicalcomprehendsall
order and reotder.manipulate.or
~m.lationsbips.The discursiveinlich we code and thus are able to
suchit is an essentialwindow onto
not only reflectsmeaningbut aeical associations.and so forth. And
verbalsystembut includesa whole
. All three concepts.then. aresocial
It the individual level. they are deare deprivedof meaningfuleffect}4
~refore.but should not be conflated.
and classformation in nineteenthmore complexlevel of discUSSion.Z'
d Roedigerhas demonstratedhow
constitUtedwithin the selfsamepromed in nineteenth-centUryAmerica.
resemblanceto Takaki'sof that same
ute workersis not simply the irtifact
hitt workers were subject to stresses
1ationsraining down from above.but
cments.and mistakes.They createda
. theater.and streetparadesthat welt
vances.But thesesameforms of dis:1dstigmatizedblacks-and often fosMost dem~
of all. perhaps.was
.
NOTES
1. WE.B. Du Bois, ~
'
,-I:
once a cultUral institUtion. an ideolog-
~
.
~I. ,...11 ;ntn the
117
What Roediger'swork-and the work of othersalong similar lines-suggests,
therefore,are the ways that race and rascismmight be comprehendedhistorically; that is to say that they are not just socially constructedbut are hiStorical
processesaswell. Humansmake race,to paraphraseMarx, but they are not free
to makeit in any old way they please.The constraintswithin and the givenswith
which they COnstnlctracial meaningsare not biologicalbut historical,including
the material conditions that history fashions.An historictzecl,socialprocessallows spacefor agencyand choice at the individual level, yet individual behavior
does not arise out of some naturalized psychologicalprocessesbut is "determined" in the arenaof socialrelations.
Furthermore,this approachsuggeststhat we needto conceptualizeracistpractice in relation to all mannerof other ordinary human intellectual, cultural, and
social practices.Thus racism is not seensimply as some kind of abnormality,
outside the realm of ordinary affairs, a historical wrong turn. Producedin the
socialworld, its potmtial is ever present.Recognitionof all this might displace
the persistmt tendencyto biologize raceand the reactionto race,locatingboth
somehowin our geneticmakeup. To say that thesephenomenaare profoundly
historicalis alsoto attemptto recondle constraintwith yoUtion,and the ideological with the Inaterial.
What the historiographyof racismin Americanhistory suggests,therefore,is
that an effectiveanalysisof racial phenomenamust be at oncepsychologicaland
sociological,materialand nonmaterial.This is not to suggestsomemereeclectic
mix of approaches,however,but a reconceptualizationof the very meaningof
individual action, that under certain circumstancesthe dichotomiesbetweenindividual and social, material and nonmaterialare falseones. Individual preferences,values, ideas,behaviorshave ~~.ning only in a social context; they are
constitutedout of the social and are in large Ineasurethe effectsof relationsof
power.Put another way, the multiple exercisesof power createthe individual;
andindividual subjectsareboth the objectsof power and its conduits.Thushow
we understand-and explain-racism dependsvery much on how we understandsocialaction moregenerally;and how we unde:l'Stand
socialaction in generalwill be powerfully informed by how we understandracial phenomena.
~-makers.w22
Thus the problems
"
aACISM"
:
of Dawn: An Essay rowan! an Au~
of a Rsa Concept
(1~; reprint, New York, 1975),51,58,67.
2. This chronology is implicit, if not explicit, in most contemporary analyses of racism.
Fm its most explicit form, KC Ivan Hannaford's he: The History of an Idea In die West
(B8himore, 1995), which argues the thesis of racism's modernity in exhaustive detail.
3. For a sharp critique of these tendencies, see especially BaJi)araFields, -Ideology and
Racein American History," in Region, he and Reconstruction:Essaysin Honor of C. Vann
~,cd.
J. Morgan Kousser and James McPherson (New York, 1982); and idem,
~
David
Theo Goldberg,
Radst Cultlt~:
Philosophy and the Politics of Meaning cN~
Y~
1993); and Michael Omi and Howard Winant, Radal Formation in tlIr; United StattS:FrtJm
tlIr; 1960s to tlIr; 1980s (New York, 1986).
5. For eumples in the tecent literatun on France, see Piem-Andrt Taguieff,l.a fora.
prtjugc: ess4Iisur Ie radsmr. et ses doubles(Paris, 1987); Maxim Silverman, ed., Race,DIscOltrse and Power in France (Aldershot,
1991); idem. Deconstructing the Nation: Immigration,
R4dsrn and CitiZenshipin Modem Frana (London, 1992); Colette Guillaumin. RacIsm,Sexism, Power and Ideology (London. 1995); and Etienne Balibar and Immanuel WallCrstCin.
Race,
Nation,Qass:Ambiguous
,~
6. Reginald Horsman,
Saxonism (Cambridge.
1981).
7. Ibid., i.
8. Ibid., 5 (emphasis added).
9. Ibid.. 189-207.
10. Alexander
Cf. Ronald Takaki. Iron Cages: Race and Cultu~ in Nineteenth-Gentury
SaXton. 1M
80-101.
~
Enemy: Labor and tlIr; Anti-OIinese
Movement iJI
Califomia (Berkeley. 1971).
11. Ibid., 261.
01'
.ni.n
temporary
For example, Eric Arnesen,
forge
they were a plurality
and plantations.
to
lower South-where
able
inst~~ces-blacks
some
in
majority
even
in shipyards
sometimes
in parts of the postbellum
were
12. Ironically,
with white worker organizations
Wate1front Workersof New Orleans: Race,Oass and Politics. 1863-1923 (New York. 1991).
13. Cited in Thomas
C. Holt.
-The Political
Uses of Alienation:
W E. B. Du Bois on
Politics. Raa, and Culture, 1903-19iO,American Quarkriy i2 Gum 1990): 313.
14. Edmund S. Morgan. AJneriam Slavery, Amertc4Jn Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial
Virginia (New York. 1915).
15. 1 do not mean to deny the potential
usefulness of psychoanalytic
paradigms as such.
Indeed, some feminist theory may yet demonstrate the general applicability.
for example.
of I acanian thought to problems of difference, which might include race. But these perspectives have not to my knowledge
applied
to racial
16. Joel Kovel, White RGdsm: A Psydlohlstory (New York, 1911),1-6-105.
17. For eumples, see Colette Guillaumin, - 'Race' and Discowse,- trans. Oaitt
Hughes,
phenomena
in SitveIman,
and eff~ly
as yet.
ed., Race, DiSCOIlrse and Power in Frana.
-Essays on Culture
Cultu~
been systematically
and Personality.-
and PtrsonaIity,
in Malinowski,
5-13;
and George W Stocking, Jr..
Rivers, Benedict and Others: Essays on
ed. George W Stocking. Jr. (Madison,
1986), 5.
18. NeedJes to say, perhaPS. this is not a claim that Jordan was influenced
J<X'dans book was published
toward tlIr; Negro, 1550-1812
19. For examples,
59,475.
20. An eumple
we are told to think
first. Winthrop
(Chapel Hill.
Jordan,
of this totalizing
of -raa
1968).
95-91,
effect is Omi and Wmants
as an unstable
by KOftI;
While over Black: AmerlJ:4n AttitlldtS
see Jordan. While over Bla£k. 5-1.
and 'decentered'
li2-44.
251. 3il.
458-
Racial Formation, in which
complex
of social meanings
constandy being transformed by political struggle," and told at the same time that -(be
racial dimension [is) present to some degree in every identity. institution
and social practice in the United States- (68). In short, the racial formation
thought and did," Ibid., xiv-xv.
23. Another notable work within this
Whitt RdaIion5 In W AmerIcan SouttI siJI
explains the tesUrgence of what be calls
combination of political and economic i
enedand the conjunctUre of general socii
racial feaJSwere aroused by the sudden '
as economic providers for their women
(London,1991).
Race and Manifest Destiny: The OrigiJ\S of American Radal Anglo-
America (New York. 1919), 55-65.
-22. -Whatwhite men in powerwu..
appears to include
everything
describedas a generalized social psychos
was a'kind of psychic compensation." A
em schemeWillIamson £tamescan be f(
Crow: ~
/DId W politics ofWhite~
Nancy Maclean, Behind the Mask ofQ\t
York, 1994),
24. Cf. Henri Lefebvre. Critiqut: de i
quotidltnnett (Paris, 1961), 143-+1'. Set
tng: Race, Race-Making, and the Writi11
ruary 1995): 1-20.
25. The works 1 have in mind are I
tilt Making ofW American\\brMng ~
Fall of w Whitt Rtpublk: Qass polm
(london, 1990); and Eric 1.Dtt,Love aI
tng Qass (New York, 1993), My disc
adequate here.. but 1 have discussed
"Marking," and in "Racism and the V
Working-ClassHistory 45 (spring 19926.
Holt,
-Marking,"
16-18.
"Xp;~AfNfNG
RACISM.
19
and to be everywhere. Thus it becomes just a covering term, not an explanation of relationers, of StUart Hall's -Race,
cal Theorits: Raceand Colo~ionJadt. (Chicago, 1991);
icS of Meaning (New York,
n in theUnitedStates:From
:-Andrt Taguieff. La force du
1 Silve~.
ed.. Race.Dis:ting the Nation: Immigration.
tte Guillaumin. Racism.$exand Immanuel Wallerstein.
ins of American Racial Anglo-
Culturein Nineteenth-Century
1 the Anti-Chintse Movtmtnt in
where they were a plurality or
lie to forge temporary alliances
Ds.For example, Eric Arnesen.
1863-1923 (New York, 1991).
lienation: w: E. B. Du Bois on
rly 42 Uune 1990): 313.
'ree:dom:The Ordeal of Colonial
ychoanalytiC paradigms as such.
~neralapplicability, for example,
ght include race. But th~ perand effectively applied to racial
ships or processes:
21. Takaki, Iron Cages,126, 127.
22. "What white men in power thought and did mightily affected what everyone
thought
and did.ft
Ibid., work
xiv-xv.within this genreis Joel williamson's Ragefor Order: Black23. Another
notable
Whitt Relations in the American South since Emancipation (New York, 1986). Wllliamson
explains the resurgence of what he calls southern "white radicalism" in the 1890s by a
combination of political and eConomic interests that blacks direcdyor indirecdy threatened and the conjunctUre of general social and psychological anxieties in which sexual and
racial fears were aroused by the sudden inability of white men to fulfill their gender roles
as economic providers for their women and families. There followed what might be best
described as a generalized social psychosis in which "the rage against the black beast rapist
was a kind of psychic compensatioI)." A more subde and nuanced elaboration of the general scheme Williamson frames can be found in Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore, Gt:nIlt:r andJim
Crow: Women and the Politics of Whitt Suprt:maI:.y,1896-1920 (Chapel Hill, 1996). Seealso
Nancy MacLean, Behind the Mask of Chivalry: ~ MaJringof the SecondKu I<Iux I<Ian (New
York,
24.1994).
a. Henri Lefebvre,Critique de Ia vie quotidienne: Fondtments d'unt sOciologiede 10
quotiditnnttt (paris, 1961), 143-+4. SeediscUSsion of this text in Thomas C. Holt, "Marking: Race, Race-Making, and the Writing of History," American Historical Review 100 (February
1-20.I have in mind are David R Roediger, ~ Wagesof Whittness: RlJCeand
25. 1995):
The works
the MakIng of the American Working Class (London, 1991); Alexander $axton, The Riseand
Fall of the Whitt &public: Class Politics and Mass Culture in Nineteenth-Century Atntrica
(London, 1990); and Eric Lott, Love and Theft: BlackfaceMinstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York, 1993). My discussion 1>fthese teXts will be brief and wholly inadequate here, but I have discussed them at greater length and more critically in Holt,
"Marking," and in ~cism and the Working Class," review essay,Inurnattonal1.abor and
Working-ClassHistory 45 (spring 1994): 86-95.
26. Holt, "Marking," 16-18.