Park defined race relations as depending on racial consciousness rather than racial difference

Evidence

The first writer to give a deeper meaning to the second word in the expression was the Chicago sociologist Robert E. Park, who in 1939 maintained that race relations were not so much the relations that existed between individuals of different races as between individuals conscious of these differences (Park, 1950). He thought that there were no race relations in Brazil because there was nothing in that country corresponding to what a North American recognized as racial consciousness. Park believed that racial prejudice had existed from the earliest periods of history and he described it as a defense-reaction, a defense of privilege. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 659 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

While this is not always inaccurate, I have been arguing by contrast that race is itself the expression of relations of power. It is the embodiment and institutionalization of these relations. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1738 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Race relations is a false category masking underlying white racism — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 672; Race is about representing difference, and sites of difference are sites of power — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 108; Race relations exist only where parties are conscious of racial difference — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 659 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Race relations exist only where parties are conscious of racial difference #corroborates (0.97) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 659
• Race itself is not a rationalization but the embodiment of power relations. #complicates (0.76) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1738