Racial Formation - Definition and Overview

Racial Formation - Definition and Overview Racial formation is the process, resulting from the interplay between social structure and everyday life, through which the meaning of race and racial categories are agreed upon and argued over. The concept comes form racial formation theory, a sociological theory  that focuses on the connections between how race shapes and is shaped by  social structure, and how racial categories are represented and given meaning in imagery, media, language, ideas, and everyday common sense. Racial formation theory frames the meaning of race as rooted in context and history, and thus as something that changes over time. Omi and Winants Racial Formation Theory In their book Racial Formation in the United States,  sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant define racial formation as â€Å"...the sociohistorical process by which racial categories are created, inhabited, transformed, and destroyed,† and explain that this process is accomplished by â€Å"historically situated projects in which human bodies and social structures are represented and organized.† â€Å"Projects,† here, refers to a representation of race that situates it in social structure. A racial project can take the form of common sense assumptions about racial groups, about whether or not race is significant in today’s society, or narratives and images that depict race and racial categories through mass media, for example. These situate race within social structure by, for instance, justifying why some people have less wealth or make more money than others on the basis of race, or, by pointing out that racism is alive and well, and that it impact s people’s experiences in society. Thus, Omi and Winant see the process of racial formation as directly and deeply connected to how â€Å"society is organized and ruled.† In this sense, race and the process of racial formation have important political and economic implications. Racial Formation is Composed of Racial Projects Central to their theory is the fact that race is used to signify differences amongst people, via racial projects, and that how these differences are signified connects to the organization of society. In the context of the U.S. society, the concept of race is used to signify physical differences amongst people but is also used to signify actual and perceived cultural, economic, and behavioral differences. By framing racial formation this way, Omi and Winant illustrate that because the way we understand, describe, and represent race is connected to how society is organized, then even our common sense understandings of race can have real and significant political and economic consequences for things like access to rights and resources.Their theory frames the relationship between racial projects and social structure as dialectical, meaning that the relationship between the two goes in both directions, and that change in one necessarily causes change in  the other. So, the outcomes of a racialized social structure- differentials in wealth, income, and assets on the basis of race, for example- shape what we believe to be true about racial categories. We then use race as a sort of shorthand to provide a set of assumptions about a person, which in turn shapes our expectations for a person’s behavior, beliefs, worldviews, and even intelligence. The ideas we develop about race then act back on the social structure in various political and economic ways. While some racial projects might be benign, progressive, or anti-racist, many are racist. Racial projects which represent certain racial groups as less than or deviant impact the structure of society by excluding some from employment opportunities, political office, educational opportunities, and subject some to police harassment, and  higher rates of arrest, conviction, and incarceration. The Changeable Nature of Race Because the ever-unfolding process of racial formation is one carried out by racial projects, Omi and Winant point out that we all exist among and within them, and they inside of us. This means that we are constantly experiencing the ideological force of race in our everyday lives, and what we do and think in our everyday lives has an impact on social structure. This also means that we as individuals have the power to change the racialized social structure and eradicate racism by changing the way we represent, think about, talk about, and act in response to race.