Working-class racism resists analysis under homogeneous conceptions of ideology
Evidence
Finally, I would cite Gramsci’s work in the ideological field. It is clear that “racism,” if not exclusively an ideological phenomenon, has critical ideological dimensions. Hence, the relative crudity and reductionism of materialist theories of ideology have proved a considerable stumbling block in the necessary work of analysis in this area. Especially, the analysis has been foreshortened by a homogeneous, noncontradictory conception of consciousness and of ideology, which has left most commentators virtually undefended when obliged to account, say, for the purchase of racist ideologies within the working class or within related institutions like trade unions, which, in the abstract, ought to be dedicated to antiracist positions. The phenomenon of “working-class racism,” though by no means the only kind requiring explanation, has proved extraordinarily resistant to analysis. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 142
Categorization
- XREF: The critique of homogeneous noncontradictory ideology connects directly to Gramscian common sense as internally contradictory — the contradiction at the heart of the toolbox. — connects to: Racial difference can be constructed as antagonism within a single exploited class; Racism exists as a variable spectrum, not a single invariant form; Economic-reductionist theories explain racial divisions as byproducts of economic structures (+12 more)
- DEFINE: Establishes why ideology must be understood as contradictory rather than homogeneous to do anti-racist analysis.
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 142