Racism cannot be reduced to a scaled-up version of interpersonal prejudice

Evidence

But then Freud adds a rider: in moving from “minor differences” to major ones - let us say in moving from ethnocentrism to racism - we are, according to this argument, simply seeing the same principle “writ large.” This is the fatal leap in the argument which many Freudians have been only too keen to take (Kovel, 1988). Major differences, that is, differences that are based on structures of power and domination, are not simply interpersonal or intergroup differences aggregated. That is the prime fallacy of methodological individualism. An explanation that might plausibly apply to relations of sibling rivalry, or the territorial rivalry between two neighboring gangs, and which might also apply to rivalries between socialist or Christian sects, or between different groups of black immigrants, does not translate into a model for understanding imperial rivalries, genocidal attacks, or systematic racial discrimination. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1387

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the social capital work on how macro-structural phenomena cannot be aggregated from individual interactions — the same ‘methodological individualism’ fallacy flagged in Milgrom’s institutional analysis. — connects to: Prejudice scales cannot measure readiness to participate in genocide. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 460; Racist skinhead masculinity cannot be explained by a single shared psychological drive — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1376; Racism operates at a structural level irreducible to interpersonal group rivalry — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1388 (+1 more)