Can there be a truly systematic and comprehensive theory of race?. Issue 13 (20th October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Song, Miri
• Is Part Of: Ethnic and racial studies. Volume 39:Issue 13(2016)
• Page Start: 2303
• Page End: 2308
• Publication Date: 2016-10-20
• Subjects: Race -- social theory -- colour blind racism -- Bourdieu -- racial field -- reflexivity; Race -- Periodicals; Race relations -- Periodicals; Ethnic groups -- Periodicals; 305.805
• DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2016.1202425
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0141-9870

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In this ambitious new book, Mustafa Emirbayer and Matthew Desmond contend that there has never been a truly comprehensive and systematic theory of race. They go on to argue that 'Much of our best work no longer tells us how to understand or reconstruct racial dynamics but simply gives us concrete proof of their continuing significance' (3). To what extent does The Racial Order theoretically advance existing theorizing of race? An important contribution – and a central plank in the book – is the way in which a wide variety of cultural and social phenomena is discussed and interwoven into the analysis. The authors draw most heavily on Bourdieu, Dewey, and Durkheim, in their elaboration of the racial order.