Feminist Theories Of Race

Gender and race are two popular theories, in the sense that these theories are relevant today’s society as well as at the time when the theories were first analyzed. The two theories have similarities and differences in how to question the idea of power and how power is used in to subjugate woman and minorities. Feminist and gender theories and theories of race and racism are alike in how they were formed in society, and how both theories can be seen in an individual/group to show the oppression that occurs continuously throughout time. The theories also convey differences in how the theories demonstrate society’s way of implementing power over the people who are oppressed. The structure of theories are similar in the way the theories shift …show more content…
Omi and Winant began their argument with, “Race used to be a relatively intelligible concept; only recently have we seriously challenged its theoretical coherence. Today were are deep questions about what we actually mean by the term,” (Omi and Winant 2002:380). Viewing race as a concept was the first step into how it formed into an issue of power in to society, Omi and Winant further explain the urbanization and the colonization of other countries, which caused the illusion of race and the conflicts that came with believing there is a supreme race. Race was then ‘fixed’ by introducing the term colorblindness, pretending not to see the differences among people, which lead to the objective concept of race. Objective put people into different categories similar to the feminist waves, which created labels for people and did not allow progress to be made. The theory then made out of these concepts is identical to the categories of feminism, the “contemporary political relationships,” (Omi and Winant 2002: 384) which coincides with the political movement women made, “global context of race” recognizes that race is all around and must be visible, similar to the second wave of liberations rights. Finally the historical understanding in which, “the increasing racialization of whites… must be recognized as procceeding from the increasingly …show more content…
Smith’s main argument is on women’s experience, but overall her standpoint heroes refers to people who are not privileged have more knowledge of the social system. Smith was influenced by Collins and similar to her argument, Smith focuses on women’s unheard voices, “When we began with our experiences as women, however, we were always returning to ourselves and to each other as subjects in our bodies,” (Smith 1992: 361). She discusses women’s experiences importance, like Collins, but instead of using it as a way to unite both gender and race she uses the example of text-mediated as a way to explain how women specifically are excluded in the patriarchal society. The power of the texts in society, according to Smith, contributes to the ideology that men are a stronger gender and leaves women to be seen as