Race And Racial Formation Theory

Omi and Winant ask us to consider the idea of race in a different light. They argue that race is a social concept. They argue that society tends to think of race as something fixed and objective or an ideological construct. They define race as, “Race is a concept that signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies.” Race symbolizes social conflict. They point out that the concept of race is directly related to larger social conflicts of the time. Humans are divided in many different ways whither by hair color, eye color, or height all of which are not good ways to classify people. This means that the only differences between races are the same value as, say, my eye color being brown and someone else 's being blue. There is not biological basis for distinguishing humans along the lines of race. However, skin color is not any better than these other methods yet has been widely used and the classification carries . Yet we give it significance and it comes to symbolize far more than other traits, like height. They argue that race is a topic which will always be around. No matter what it will …show more content…
Racial Formation is linked to the evolution of how society is ruled and organized. They explain this theory with the use of racial projects. Racial projects are representations of race in language, thought, imagery, popular discourse and interaction that assign meaning to race and situate it within the greater social structure. T he racial formation theory states that as part of the ongoing process of racial formation, racial projects compete to become to provide the dominant, mainstream meaning of race and racial categories in society. A racial project helps to explain how people of different races interact in the