Racism and nationalism predate capitalism and shaped its development.
Evidence
The historical development of world capitalism was influenced in a most fundamental way by the particularistic forces of racism and nationalism. This could only be true if the social, psychological, and cultural origins of racism and nationalism both anticipated capitalism in time and formed a piece with those events that contributed directly to its organization of production and exchange. Feudal society is the key. More particularly, the antagonistic commitments, structures, and ambitions that feudal society encompassed are better conceptualized as those of a developing civilization than as elements of a unified tradition. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 122
Categorization
- DEFINE: Establishes the book’s core redefinition of capitalism as constitutively racial from its origins.
- corroborated: 5 independent passages support this claim — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 122
- XREF: connects to: Racial hierarchy and whiteness were invented inside Europe before modern capitalism; Racialism pervaded Western consciousness before and beyond capitalism; Capitalist accumulation was built on colonial conquest and enslavement. — Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the…, 82 (+19 more)
Broader Connections
- Racialism pervaded Western consciousness before and beyond capitalism
#corroborates(0.80) - Racial hierarchy and whiteness were invented inside Europe before modern capitalism
#corroborates(0.75) - Capitalist expansion pursued racial directions, not the rationalization Marx expected
#corroborates(0.70) - Racism is a hegemonic practice that is articulated with, not necessary to, capitalist formations
#corroborates(0.70) - Ottoman expansion, sugar cultivation, and Genoese-Iberian alliance made slave labor central to capitalism
#expands(0.60) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 556 - Capitalist accumulation was built on colonial conquest and enslavement.
#expands(0.50) — Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the…, 82