Critical Race Theory defines racism as structural social construction, not individual belief

Evidence

The anti-CRT panic originated in the mind of a once-obscure journalist and filmmaker, Christopher Rufo. … As legal scholars, Bell, Crenshaw, and other early theorists of CRT argued that the law was structurally unfair and that racism was not primarily a matter of individual beliefs or actions but of social construction. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 417

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies CRT’s core premise that racism is socially constructed and embedded in law, the definitional basis the reader needs.
• XREF: Connects directly to the Fields sisters’ racecraft concept as the social construction of race through practice. — connects to: Racism theories divide into ideology-focused and structural-inequality approaches — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1876; Racelessness individualizes and personalizes what is actually structural racism; Structural racism operates beyond individual intentions and prejudice — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 42 (+16 more)

Broader Connections

• Structural racism operates beyond individual intentions and prejudice #corroborates (0.98) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 42
• Racism is socially learned and reproduced through discourse rather than innate #corroborates (0.98)
• Racism is a societal system of ethnic and racial domination, not merely ideology #corroborates (0.98) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1051
• Racelessness individualizes and personalizes what is actually structural racism #expands (0.95)
• Racism based on power structures is not aggregate interpersonal antipathy #corroborates (0.95)
• Racism functions structurally apart from individuals’ personal intent #corroborates (0.95) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1477
• Lay explanations of racism favor individual pathology over structural factors #expands (0.95) — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice, 353
• Shifting racism’s targets exposes the social construction of race itself #corroborates (0.90) — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 639
• Modern racism is framed as individual deviance rather than systemic structure #complicates (0.90) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1817
• Racism theories divide into ideology-focused and structural-inequality approaches #qualifies (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1876
• Belief in racial traits need not constitute racism unless it asserts hierarchy #complicates (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 62
• Race is social construction with real material consequences, not biology #qualifies (0.80) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 124
• Critical deconstruction of racial ideology can become ideology itself #complicates (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2774
• Racism exists as a variable spectrum, not a single invariant form #complicates (0.75)
• Racism has relative autonomy from other social relations #complicates (0.75)