English racialism predated ruling class divisions and shaped proletarianization itself

Evidence

The historical development of world capitalism was influenced in a most fundamental way by the particularistic forces of racism and nationalism. This could only be true if the social, psychological, and cultural origins of racism and nationalism both anticipated capitalism in time and formed a piece with those events that contributed directly to its organization of production and exchange. Feudal society is the key. More particularly, the antagonistic commitments, structures, and ambitions that feudal society encompassed are better conceptualized as those of a developing civilization than as elements of a unified tradition. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 122 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

But even more to the point, we have seen that the generic terms “the English working class” or “the English proletariat” mask the social and historical realities that accompanied the introduction of industrial capitalism in England and its Empire. Social divisions and habits of life and attitude that predated capitalist production continued into the modern era and extended to the working classes located in Britain specific social sensibilities and consciousness. The English working class was never the singular social and historical entity suggested by the phrase. An even closer study of its elements—for we have merely reviewed the more extreme case with the Irish—would reveal other social divisions, some ethnic (Welsh, Scottish, and more recently West Indian and Asian), some regional, and others essentially industrial and occupational. The negations resultant from capitalist modes of production, relations of production, and ideology did not manifest themselves as an eradication of oppositions among the working classes. Instead, the dialectic of proletarianization disciplined the working classes to the importance of distinctions: between ethnics and nationalities; between skilled and unskilled workers; and, as we shall see later in even more dramatic terms, between races. The persistence and creation of such oppositions within the working classes were a critical aspect of the triumph of capitalism in the nineteenth century. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 267 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Proletarianization created divisions among workers instead of erasing them; European racialism originated in intra-European caste ordering, not color; The Negro and whiteness were invented in Europe through scholarly effort (+16 more)

Related

• Proletarianization created divisions among workers instead of erasing them (similarity 0.93)
• English racial ideology predated proletarianization rather than being invented to divide workers. (similarity 0.93)
• Capitalism triumphed by cultivating divisions rather than erasing them within the working class (similarity 0.91)
• English racialism predated and shaped the proletarianization of the Irish (similarity 0.89)
• Ethnic division between English and Irish workers serves capitalist domination (similarity 0.89)
• Racially conscious working-class nationalism emerged from English class formation (similarity 0.89)
• Ethnic divisions within a working class can be exploited to strengthen capitalist rule (similarity 0.88)
• English racial order prevented workers from separating class universality from racial particularism (similarity 0.88)
• Capitalist proletarianization reproduced internal divisions rather than unifying the working class (similarity 0.88)
• European racialism originated in intra-European caste ordering, not color (similarity 0.88)
• Racial ideology functions as a labor discipline for capital (similarity 0.86)
• Fascism arose where national bourgeoisies formed late and marshaled social forces through race ideology. (similarity 0.85)
• Post-1877 capitalism used differential reward by race to stabilize wealth (similarity 0.85)
• Racism and nationalism predate capitalism and shaped its development. (similarity 0.85)
• English workers gained labor-aristocracy privileges within a world system (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Racism and nationalism predate capitalism and shaped its development. #corroborates (0.80) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 122
• Foundational workers’ histories erased Black presence from the English working class #corroborates (0.75)
• Capitalism triumphed by cultivating divisions rather than erasing them within the working class #expands (0.70) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 267
• Colonial racism welded dynastic legitimacy to national community by universalizing inherited superiority #expands (0.50)