Racism’s modes persist after being severed from their categories of meaning

Evidence

This is not to say that what can be identified as traditional racisms have disappeared; quite the contrary. There is here the condition without the category and mode without the (same) meaning. The modes, forms, sociologics, even their rationales more often than not mimic classic racisms. But they lack the sharpness of their identifying account or defining contours, torn as they are from the classic conditions of their articulation. These anthraxic racisms without the ostensive reference of racism exacerbate humiliation and degradation, debilitation and desecration, desacralization and distortion. They underpin torture in denial (“We don’t torture” even as “we” waterboard) and collateral damage under apology (“Sorry, we didn’t mean it, they got caught in the firing zone”). — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1867

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Racism persists but has shifted from blatant to unconscious subtle forms — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 143; Racism stays constant while its signifiers shift among target groups; Racism persists covertly after formal prohibitions end — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1506 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Racist meaning can be conveyed without explicit racial reference #corroborates (0.90)
• The racialized content of the Muslim category persisted across changing labels #exemplifies (0.90) — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia, 163
• Racism persists covertly after formal prohibitions end #corroborates (0.88) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1506
• Racism persists but has shifted from blatant to unconscious subtle forms #expands (0.85) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 143
• Racism stays constant while its signifiers shift among target groups #expands (0.80)
• Racism persists while its targets shift from black to brown and Jew to Muslim #expands (0.80) — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 633
• Blatant racism has shifted into subtle aversive forms #expands (0.80) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1101
• Racism persists as unconscious normalized privileging of whiteness #expands (0.78) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1466
• Cordial racism works by erasing race as a category and denying harm #corroborates (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1798