What We Now Know about Race and Ethnicity PDF
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This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. What We Now Know About Race and Ethnicity This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. What We Now Know About Race and Ethnicity Michael Banton berghahn N E W Y O R K • O X F O R D www.berghahnbooks.com This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. Published by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.com © 2015, 2018 Michael Banton Open access ebook edition published in 2018 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Banton, Michael, 1926– What we now know about race and ethnicity / by Michael Banton. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-78238-603-2 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-78238-717-6 (paperback. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-78533-658-4 (open access ebook) 1. Race. 2. Ethnicity. 3. Ethnicity—United States. 4. United States—Race relations. I. Title. HT1521.B354 2015 305.8—dc23 2015006532 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-78238-603-2 (hardback) ISBN 978-1-78238-717-6 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-78533-658-4 (open access ebook) An electronic version of this book is freely available thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access for the public good. More information about the initiative and links to the Open Access version can be found at knowledgeunlatched.org This work is published subject to a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivatives 4.0 International license. The terms of the license can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. For uses beyond those covered in the license contact Berghahn Books. This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. Contents Preface vii Introduction. The Paradox 1 Chapter 1. The Scientific Sources of the Paradox 11 Two Dimensions – Taxonomy – Typology – Darwin and Mendel – Two Vocabularies – The Power of the Ordinary Language Construct Chapter 2. The Political Sources of the Paradox 31 Social Categories and Their Names – After the Civil War – Discrimination – The One-Drop Rule – Counter Trends Chapter 3. International Pragmatism 50 The Racial Convention – Implementing the Convention – Other International Action – Naming the Categories Chapter 4. Sociological Knowledge 65 Theoretical or Practical? – The Chicago School – In World Perspective – Social Race? Chapter 5. Conceptions of Racism 81 Writing History – Teaching Philosophy – Teaching Sociology – Sociological Textbooks — Political Ends Chapter 6. Ethnic Origin and Ethnicity 96 Census Categories – Anthropology – A New Reality? – Nomenclature — Sociobiology — Ethnic Origin as a Social Sign – Comparative Politics – The Current Sociology of Ethnicity This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. vi | Contents Chapter 7. Collective Action 123 The Rediscovery of Weber’s 1911 Notes – Four Propositions – Closure – The Human Capital Variable – The Colour Variable – Ethnic Preferences – Opening Relationships Conclusion. The Paradox Resolved 149 Select Bibliography 158 Index of Names 162 Index of Subjects 166 This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. Preface Anyone who opens this book will already know a lot about ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’. They are words heard on television, read in newspapers and used in conversation. What the words mean will usually be clear from the context in which they are employed. Yet, because it is not always easy to distinguish between words and things, people some- times wonder what race (or ethnicity) actually is. This book tries to resolve some of the confusion by distinguishing between the words’ meanings in the popular or practical language of everyday life, and attempts to sharpen their meanings (or supersede use of them alto- gether) in technical or scientific language. So there is more than one kind of knowledge. While we – all of us – know about the place of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ in the practical sphere, this is not the end of the story. What specialists have learned in the past two hundred years or so about when and why racial and eth- nic distinctions have become socially important is a different kind of knowledge, even if the two kinds can overlap. There may never be final answers to all the questions, but hopefully the nature of the underlying difficulties will have been clarified by the end of this book. Many of the academic books about race and ethnicity that have been written by authors in the United States are prefaced by lists of the seminars and conferences at which portions of the work have been presented, exposing the arguments to beneficial criticism. The authors acknowledge the financial support of institutions, and, almost invariably, the contributions of many friends and colleagues who have helped them polish their texts. This is not that kind of book. The manuscript has been prepared in relative isolation and without any kind of grant. The stimulus for it – which came to me in June 2013 – has been the reaction of other specialists in the study of ra- cial and ethnic relations who either reject or do not understand the philosophical presuppositions that underlie my recent writing. This This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. viii | Preface impulse has been coupled with a desire to address colleagues in the United States. To me, very many of them seem so concerned with the political aspects of the black-white division in their own country that they do not reflect sufficiently on what they might learn from a European perspective. Michael Banton Downe, Kent This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale.
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