Race in the Color‐blind Era: Deracialization and Black Elected Officials

Johnson, Laurie

doi:10.1111/soc4.12179

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Critical race theorists (CRT) have well established that the US is a white supremacist state and have developed a literature that frames the limited options of Black politicians for gaining political power (Crenshaw, 1995;Delgado and Stefancic, 2017). The common tactics of Black politicians include deracialization (Gillespie, 2010;Huey, 1996;Johnson, 2014;Persons, 1993Persons, , 2011, 3 neoliberal policies (Cohen, 2012;Reed, 2008;Spence, 2015), and minimization of systemic racism (Bonilla-Silva, 2017;EL Logan, 2011). CRT challenges conservative (colorblindness) and liberal (exceptional and charismatic) explanations of the recent success of Black elected officials based on an interests-convergence analysis (Bell, 1980).…”

Section: The Techniques Of Containmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Politics of Racial Symbolism: Deval Patrick and His Discourse of Education

Johnson

2018

Critical Sociology

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This article assesses the link between racial symbolism and corporate education reform through the political discourse of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick between 2007 and 2010. Where many observers find the representation of high profile Black elected officials as an attenuation of racial domination, I argue it is the symbolism of racial progress that is utilized to advance corporate interests in public education reform. Patrick’s discourse supports neoliberal education reform as a solution to racialized issues of poverty, public safety, and mass incarceration. Through Patrick’s personal narratives he affirms a pro-blackness that acknowledges the pervasiveness of racial disparities in which he offers public education reform as an alternative in contrast to more punitive discourses of law and order.

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Section: The Techniques Of Containmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Politics of Racial Symbolism: Deval Patrick and His Discourse of Education

Johnson

2018

Critical Sociology

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“…For instance, Black politicians, in order to get elected, routinely deracialize their images and campaigns (cf. Bonilla‐Silva, ; Moore & Bell, ; Johnson, ) to avoid the backlash of raising the suspicion of threatening this arrangement (cf. Hughey, ; Rosino & Hughey, ).…”

Section: Racialized Dynamics Of Political Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

Boundaries and barriers: Racialized dynamics of political power

Rosino

2016

Sociology Compass

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Recent sociological works establish the significance and role of the state and political sphere in the enactment of racial oppression and construction of racial categories. However, less understood are the racialized dynamics that mediate exclusion and access to political power, particularly at the meso-and micro-levels. Synthesizing extant theory and research on racial inequality, the state, politics, and power, this article advances a framework centering on boundaries and barriers. First, it discusses the relationship between the state and political sphere, political power, and racial inequality. Next, it explores the literature on the deployment and contestation of racialized boundaries to the symbolic and material benefits of the state. It then examines the literature on racialized barriers to engagement, participation, and influence in the political sphere. The article concludes by suggesting future research in the related areas of agenda-setting and influence and the microdynamics of political power. As demonstrated by the long and arduous struggle for political influence and representation for people of color in the United States, the question of political power is paramount for bringing to light and thwarting the mechanisms of racial oppression. Almost all U. S. citizens, regardless of race, now legally have some capacity, through channels such as voting, to influence policies and elections. Yet structural arrangements and meso-and micro-level social practices influence the capacity to access and exercise political power. For instance, in Mississippi in the 1960s, African Americans, 1 despite having the legal right to vote, routinely faced violence, harassment, and racially biased enforcement of ambiguous rules by local actors (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 2001). While the overt and rigid racial exclusivity that once characterized political life in American society has seemingly waned, rendering the walls circumscribing access to things like citizenship and suffrage somewhat more porous and flexible, vast disparities in politically distributed resources and influence over policy endure. The subject of political power is well trod ground. Sociologists have often fixed their theoretical and empirical scope upon the political sphere. The resultant body of work has brought forth a myriad of fruitful insights into how power and inequality operate through sociopolitical apparatuses. Marxian and Weberian streams of political sociology have, for instance, long emphasized the role of the state and political sphere in facilitating social group relationships of conflict and domination. And over the last 30 years (cf. Omi & Winant, 1986), with recently mounting depth, complexity, and frequency, sociological explorations of the state and political sphere in terms of the construction of racial

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“The Movement Never Came Here”: Civil Rights Organizational Presence and Southern Racial Inequality

Williams

2024

Strategies and Outcomes

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Race in the Color‐blind Era: Deracialization and Black Elected Officials

Cited by 3 publications

References 16 publications

The Politics of Racial Symbolism: Deval Patrick and His Discourse of Education

The Politics of Racial Symbolism: Deval Patrick and His Discourse of Education

Boundaries and barriers: Racialized dynamics of political power

“The Movement Never Came Here”: Civil Rights Organizational Presence and Southern Racial Inequality

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