Racial states act on political logic even at economic cost to capital

Evidence

These considerations again reveal the irreducibility of the political to the economic. States may enact policies, rules, and instrumental modes of operation conducive not to the maximizing of surplus value, short or long term, but in the name of some politically driven logic like maintaining security, or white supremacy, or “principled” racial segregation irrespective of the duplicate costs it entails. In fact, it is specious to think that the cost-benefit calculation can be divided so discretely between the economic and the political. The fine line between the two likely collapses in the face of the calculation, just as it is manufactured by and in the interests of those whose power is identified artificially on one or other side of the dividing line. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1693

Categorization

• XREF: Challenges economically deterministic readings of racial rule that treat white supremacy as purely serving capital accumulation; complements structural racism analyses in the vault. — connects to: Racial states pursue political logics that override cost-benefit economic calculation — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1693; Capital has been deliberately deployed to sustain racial states even against capital’s own interests; Race ideology trumped economic rationality even at ruinous cost — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 526
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how do naturalist/historicist distinctions map onto Goldberg’s claim here that political logic can override cost-benefit — does historicist rule tolerate more economic inefficiency than naturalist?

Broader Connections

• Racial states pursue political logics that override cost-benefit economic calculation #corroborates (1.00) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1693
• Race ideology trumped economic rationality even at ruinous cost #corroborates (0.95) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 526
• Capital has been deliberately deployed to sustain racial states even against capital’s own interests #corroborates (0.90)