Historical conditions, not universal psychology, activate racial distinctions as social forces.

Evidence

The question is not whether men-in-general make perceptual distinctions between groups with different racial or ethnic characteristics, but rather, what are the specific conditions which make this form of distinction socially pertinent, historically active. What gives this abstract human potentiality its effectivity, as a concrete material force? — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 634

Categorization

• DEFINE: Articulates Hall’s core methodological move: racism as a potentiality activated by specific historical-material conditions rather than an innate constant.
• XREF: connects to: Racial categories are relative, situational constructs engendered by historical processes.; Present racial conflicts must be taught as outcomes of a long dynamic history. — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed:…, 486