Defenders of neutral science still hold open the possibility of real racial difference.

Evidence

Those who considered the nineteenth century, and scientific racism in particular, the apex of racist expression have thought the applied turn a shift away also from racist expression as such, a revealing of racism’s intellectual vacuity, its essential irrationality, in the wake of racism’s failure to exhibit scientific legitimacy. But such an interpretation is misleading. — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 18 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Applied racial science was not a retreat from but a continuation of racism — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 18; Belief in racial difference without hierarchy is not yet racism; Enlightenment race science was contradictory, not uniformly racist (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Race’s specificity is positional rather than essential yet remains real #complicates (0.74)
• Applied racial science was not a retreat from but a continuation of racism #complicates (0.72) — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 18