Understanding the Intersection of Race and Capitalism

RACIAL CAPITALISM UNIT 2 / CRES 100

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RACE AND CAPITALISM COMPARATIVE RACIALIZATION THEORIES ASKED THE QUESTION OF HOW DIFFERENT COLONIAL INTERESTS (LAND, LABOR) INFLUENCED RACIAL REGIMES. HOW THEN DO COLONIAL RACIAL REGIMES, ONCE ESTABLISIHED, HISTORICALLY PERPETUATE THEMSELVES? THIS OCCURS IN PART THROUGH STATE STRUCTURES AND IN PART THROUGH SYSTEMS OF EXCHANGE LIKE CAPITALISM SYSTEMS THAT ORGANIZE AND REPRODUCE HUMAN LABOR AND MATERIAL LIFE UNLIKE CLASSICAL MARXISM, ROBINSON S BLACK MARXISM CONTENDS THAT RACE PRODUCED THE STRUCTURES OF CAPITALISM. RACE WAS NOT A SECONDARY EFFECT OF CLASS DIVISIONS

RACE AND CAPITALISM ROBISON S THESIS: THE ROOTS OF RACIALISM EXISTED IN PRECAPITALIST, FEUDAL EUROPE. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM INTO A EUROPEAN AND THEN A GLOBAL SYSTEM RELIED ON THE PRODUCTION AND SCALING UP OF GROUP DIFFERENCES IN ORDER FOR CAPITALISM TO REPRODUCE ITSELF AS A SYSTEM OF PROFITS FROM LABOR AND NATURE.

DEFINING CAPITALISM A SYSTEM OF ECONOMIC EXCHANGE BASED ON THE PROCESS OF CAPITAL, THE USE OF MONEY TO MAKE MORE MONEY. THIS IS ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH AT LEAST THREE WAYS CAPITALISTS EXPLOIT PEOPLE AND RESOURCES (MODES OF ACCUMULATION): THE ACCUMULATION OF LAND AND RESOURCES (PRIOR/ORIGINAL ACCUMULATION) THE ACCUMULATION AND EXPLOITATION OF LABOR THE MANAGEMENT OF VALUES OF COMMODITIES AND RENTS (ARTIFICIAL SCARCITY).

THINKING THROUGH LABOR/NATURE DISTINCTION DISTINCTION BETWEEN PRIOR ACCUMULATION AND LABOR EXPLOITATION? ARE HUMANS WHO ARE CONSIDERED BOTH PROPERTY AND WORKERS PART OF THE FIRST CATEGORY OR THE SECOND? CAN NATURAL RESOURCES BE CONSIDERED LABORING BODIES? TECHNOLOGY? MARX: LABOR IS NOT THE SOURCE OF ALL WEALTH. NATURE IS JUST AS MUCH A SOURCE OF USE VALUES (AND IT IS SURELY OF SUCH THAT MATERIAL WEALTH CONSISTS!) AS LABOR, WHICH IS ITSELF ONLY THE MANIFESTATION OF A FORCE OF NATURE, HUMAN LABOR POWER.

ROBINSONS INTERVENTION ROBINSON CRITIQUES SOME BASIC IDEAS THAT HISTORIANS USE TO EXPLAIN CAPITALISM: TRANSHISTORICAL SOCIAL CLASSES (SERFS; PROLETARIAT/PEASANTS; BOURGEOISIE; ELITE) CAPITALIST FORMS OF CIRCULATION (PRODUCTION, EXCHANGE, CONSUMPTION) MARX: BOURGEOISIE OVERTHROW THE FEUDAL ORDER TO ESTABLISH CAPITALISM INSTEAD, CAPITALISM IS BORN FROM THE FORMS OF SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION DEVELOPED IN FEUDAL/AGRARIAN EUROPE

OVERVIEW OF ROBINSON CH 1 MEDIEVAL EUROPE EXHIBITED A FEUDAL ECONOMY RURAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY BASED ON THE POWER OF LANDLORDS, SLAVERY, AND LOCAL MARKETS. MOST PEOPLE LIVED IN A CONDITION OF MASS SCARCITY AND WERE VULNERABLE TO FAMINE, WEATHER, DISEASE, AND WAR THE TRANSITION TO CAPITALISM FROM THE 9THTO 15THCENTURIES SAW INCREASING LONG- DISTANCE TRADE, A RISING MIDDLE CLASS OF MERCHANTS, PEASANT REBELLION, AND URBANIZATION OF LABOR AND MANUFACTURING. SOME PEOPLE MOVED FROM A STATE OF SLAVERY ON FEUDAL LANDS TO ONE OF EXPLOITED WAGE LABOR, THOUGH SLAVERY PERSISTED THROUGHOUT ALTHOUGH LIBERAL POLITICAL CONCEPTS ALLOWED NEW CLASSES OF EUROPEAN MEN TO OWN LAND, THE SHIFT FROM FEUDAL TO INDUSTRIAL ORDERS WAS NOT SIMPLY ONE OF MODERNIZATION/PROGRESS

OVERVIEW OF ROBINSON CH 1 LOCKE: LAND RIGHTS BASED ON THE CAPACITY TO PRODUCTIVELY DEVELOP IT IN AGRICULTURE (SEEMED RADICAL IN EUROPE; JUSTIFIED MASS EXPROPRIATION OF NATIVE LAND IN AMERICA) IN FACT, CAPITALISM MAINTAINED AND INTENSIFIED FEUDALISM S TENDENCY TO RELY ON AN ETHNIC LOGIC TO ACCUMULATE EXPLOITED LABOR -- MIGRANT OR THE MARGINAL CLASSES AS CAPITALISM INCREASED CONTACT AND INTERCONNECTION ACROSS SPACE, IT HEIGHTENED PEOPLES SENSES OF ETHNIC DISTINCTIONS AND BROUGHT MIDDLE CLASSES IN DIFFERENT REGIONS TO VIEW THEMSELVES

ROBINSON: RACIAL CAPITALISM TENSION BETWEEN GLOBALIZATION AND ETHNIC/NATIONAL DIVISION; RACIAL, TRIBAL, LINGUISTIC, AND REGIONAL DIFFERENCES CENTRAL TO THE PRODUCTIVE LOGICS OF RISE OF CAPITALISM CAPITALISM WAS LESS A CATASTROPHIC REVOLUTION (NEGATION) OF FEUDALIST SOCIAL ORDERS THAN THE EXTENSION OF THESE SOCIAL RELATIONS INTO THE LARGER TAPESTRY OF THE MODERN WORLD S POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS. (10) ROMAN VS BARBARIAN: CONSTITUTION OF EARLY EUROPE, SLAVERY MEROVIGNIANS/CAROLIGNIANS: MEDIEVAL FRANKISH MONARCHIES (486-888, PRESENT-DAY FRANCE/GERMANY/ITALY) EXPERIENCED PROFOUND ECONOMIC DEPRESSION

ROBINSON: RACIAL CAPITALISM RISE OF LONG-DISTANCE TRADE, URBANISM ASSOCIATED WITH EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION OCCURS NO EARLIER THAN END 11C MERCHANT CLASS (BOURGEOISIE) FORMS ON DISTANCE TRADE CONNECTING URBAN CENTERS CLOTH BECOMES BASIS OF NEW URBAN MANUFACTURING ECONOMY IN EUROPE S INTERIOR; OTHER KEY COMMODITIES INCLUDE GRAIN, MEAT, LUXURY ITEMS, AND SLAVES DECLINE OF FEUDAL ORDER: SERFS BECOME FREE LABOR, MIGRATE, INCREASINGLY EXPLOITED AS DISPOSABLE WAGE LABORERS 13-15C, ITALIAN BOURGEOISIE S MEDITERRANEAN SLAVE TRADE ANOTHER ECON DECLINE 14-15C, DISEASE, FAMINE, WAR, REBELLION BEFORE INDUSTRIALIZATION

ROBINSON: RACIAL CAPITALISM BOURGEOISIE NEWLY EMERGES WITH CHANGING ORGANIZATIONS OF PRODUCTION (19); UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM 16C DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPEAN STATES REORGANIZED LAND, PRODUCTION, CLASSES. MIDDLE CLASSES COME TO COMPETE ON NATIONAL BASIS SLAVES, MIGRANT WORKING CLASS, AND SOLDIERS RECRUITED FROM PERIPHERIES/MARGINALIZED GROUPS: THE TENDENCY OF EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION THROUGH CAPITALISM WAS THUS NOT TO HOMOGENIZE BUT TO DIFFERENTIATE TO EXAGGERATE REGIONAL, SUBCULTURAL, AND DIALECTICAL DIFFERENCES INTO RACIAL ONES. (26) BY 18C, RACE COMES TO SUPPLANT PATRIMONY AS KEY SOCIAL ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE, JUSTIFICATION OF INEQUALITY BETWEEN RACE/CLASS GROUPS AS WELL AS EUROPE/NON-EUROPE

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ROBINSON: PREVIEW OF CHAPTER 5 CAPITALISM TENDS TOWARD EXPANSION, WHICH PARADOXICALLY GENERATES DIFFERENCE FORCES OF MIDDLE CLASS EMERGENCE IN GENOA/ITALY KEY TO COLUMBUS SUCCESS (109) ITALIAN/PORTUGUESE DOMINANCE OF WEST AFRICAN SLAVE TRADES ESTIMATES OF ENSLAVED: 12.5 MILLION (TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE DATABASE) MARX: SLAVERY CHIEF DRIVER OF PRIMARY ACCUMULATION (113) MERCANTILISM: VERTICALLY ORGANIZED COLONIAL STATE; TRIANGULAR TRADE; EXTRACTION OF COTTON; MIXTURE WITH ENSLAVED LABOR; WAGE LABOR MANUFACTURES IN ENGLAND SPANISH/PORTUGUESE INTRODUCED SLAVERY TO AMERICAS, BUT BRITAIN ACHIEVED THE CAPITALIST ASCENDANCY OF A MASS SLAVE TRADE THAT ECLIPSED TRADES IN NONHUMAN COMMODITIES

PAPER #2 OPTION #1 IN OUR READINGS ON ORIENTALISM AND THE POST-9/11 RACIAL STATE, SEVERAL AUTHORS DISCUSS HOW MUSLIMS HAVE BEEN CONSTRUCTED AS CULTURALLY OR CIVILIZATIONALLY DISTINCT FROM THE PURPORTEDLY SECULAR WEST. CONSIDERING HOW THIS IS ARTICULATED IN STATE PRACTICES OF WARFARE, SURVEILLANCE, AND/OR INCARCERATION, DISCUSS HOW THE PUBLIC CONSTRUCTION OF MUSLIMS AS POTENTIAL TERRORIST THREATS TO DEMOCRACY OR SECURITY ARE EXPLAINED USING ASSUMPTIONS OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES. HOW DO SUCH ORIENTALIST REPRESENTATIONS CONNECT TO LONGER HISTORIES OF COLONIALISM, AND HOW DO THEY UNDERPIN FORMS OF STATE POWER AND STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE IN THE PRESENT?

PAPER #2 OPTION #2 IN BLACK MARXISM, CEDRIC ROBINSON ARGUES THAT THE TENDENCY OF EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION THROUGH CAPITALISM WAS NOT TO HOMOGENIZE BUT TO DIFFERENTIATE TO EXAGGERATE REGIONAL, SUBCULTURAL, AND DIALECTICAL DIFFERENCES INTO "RACIAL" ONES. WRITE AN ESSAY THAT CONNECTS ROBINSON S THEORY OF RACIAL CAPITALISM FROM ITS HISTORICAL ROOTS TO PRESENT-DAY FORMS OF STRUCTURAL RACISM. BEGIN BY EXPLAINING (IN THREE PAGES OR LESS) ROBINSON S ARGUMENT CLAIMING THAT CAPITALISM HAS HISTORICALLY DEVELOPED FROM AND REPRODUCED RACIAL DIFFERENCES. THEN SELECT ONE SPECIFIC FORM OF STRUCTURAL RACISM FROM OUR READINGS SUCH AS GENTRIFICATION, PRISONS, WARFARE, OR PUBLIC HEALTH THAT HELPS US UNDERSTAND HOW RACIAL INEQUALITY OR VIOLENCE IS REPRODUCED THROUGH CAPITALIST PROCESSES. WHAT IS SIMILAR OR DIFFERENT IN CURRENT PROCESSES OF RACIAL CAPITALISM TO THOSE OUTLINED BY ROBINSON IN EARLIER TIME PERIODS? HOW DO YOU DEFINE RACIAL CAPITALISM GIVEN THE HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY CONTEXTS YOU HAVE STUDIED?