Belief in racial traits need not constitute racism unless it asserts hierarchy

Evidence

Like many other commentators on racial matters, I am insisting that there is a conceptual distinction to be acknowledged between racial conception and racism. Racial conception, or what some such as Anthony Appiah have called racialism, is the view that groups of people are marked by certain generalizable visible and heritable traits. These generalized traits may be physical or psychological, cultural or culturally inscribed on the body, and the physical and psychological, bodily and cultural traits are usually thought somehow indelibly connected. Thus racialists more often than not think that racial group members share not only these traits but also behavioral dispositions and tendencies to think in certain ways those not so marked do not share. Appiah argues that such views about racial groups – that they share such characteristics, tendencies or traits not shared by non-members – if unaccompanied by consequential claims of inherent inequality or hierarchy do not amount to racism. Such views, while presumptively mistaken, are not as such necessarily dangerous or immoral. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 62

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines racialism/racial conception as distinct from racism — a terminological distinction worth keeping straight.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s notes on how categories are socially constructed and loaded; also to Anthony Appiah’s broader work. — connects to: Calling Hobbes a racist need not be anachronistic. — , Stephanie B. Martens - Civilization and…, 17; Racism need not presume permanent inferiority, only exclusion from privilege and protection — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 64; Believing race should end can substitute for fighting racism itself — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 50 (+1 more)