Racialization extends racial meaning to previously unclassified groups or practices.

Evidence

Through a complex process of selection, human physical characteristics (“real” or imagined) become the basis to justify or reinforce social differentiation. Conscious or unconscious, deeply ingrained or reinvented, the making of race, the “othering” of social groups by means of the invocation of physical distinctions, is a key component of modern societies. “Making up people,” once again. This process of selection, of imparting social and symbolic meaning to perceived phenotypical differences, is the core, constitutive element of what we term “racialization.” We define racialization as the extension of racial meaning to a previously racially unclassified relationship, social practice, or group. — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 114

Conscious or unconscious, deeply ingrained or reinvented, the making of race, the “othering” of social groups by means of the invocation of physical distinctions, is a key component of modern societies. “Making up people,” once again. This process of selection, of imparting social and symbolic meaning to perceived phenotypical differences, is the core, constitutive element of what we term “racialization.” We define racialization as the extension of racial meaning to a previously racially unclassified relationship, social practice, or group. — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 114

Categorization

• DEFINE: The formal definition of racialization, the book’s central concept.
• XREF: Corroborating anchor for existing racial-formation claims; also echoes Hacking’s ‘making up people’ concept. — connects to: Unruly populations defined through racial extension face necropolitical discipline — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1750; Racialization describes how signifying processes construct social groups as races. — Nasar Meer, Racialization and Religion: Race,…, 36; Racialization binds disparate signifying practices into one shared symbolic meaning — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1293
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 114