Rationalising racial inequality: ideology, hegemony and post-racialism among the Black and South Asian middle-classes
Article
Meghji, A. and Saini, R. 2018. Rationalising racial inequality: ideology, hegemony and post-racialism among the Black and South Asian middle-classes. Sociology. 52 (4), pp. 671-687. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038517726645
Type | Article |
---|---|
Title | Rationalising racial inequality: ideology, hegemony and post-racialism among the Black and South Asian middle-classes |
Authors | Meghji, A. and Saini, R. |
Abstract | Drawing upon 38 qualitative interviews with Black and South Asian middle-class individuals we theorise post-racialism as a hegemonic ideology. While research tends to focus on how racialised people experience racial inequality, some of our participants rationalised such inequality through a post-racial understanding. This post-racial understanding involves commitments to racial progress and transcendence, the view that racism is no longer a societal issue; race-neutral universalism, the belief that we live in a colourblind meritocracy; and a moral equivalence between anti-racism and anti-racialism, allowing for forms of ‘cultural’ racial prejudice. We examine how these components of post-racialism travel from the political macro-ideological level, to the micro-phenomenological level. Through this analysis we argue that these post-racial rationalisations are not the result of false consciousness, but reflect how post-racialism, as a hegemonic ideology, can manifest itself as common-sense and consistent with particular individuals’ histories of mobility and success. |
Keywords | Black middle-class; ideology; post-racialism; race; racial ideology; racism; South-Asian middle-class |
Publisher | SAGE Publications |
Journal | Sociology |
ISSN | 0038-0385 |
Electronic | 1469-8684 |
Publication dates | |
Online | 04 Sep 2017 |
01 Aug 2018 | |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 20 Sep 2019 |
Submitted | Jan 2017 |
Accepted | 06 Jul 2017 |
Output status | Published |
Accepted author manuscript | File Access Level Open |
Copyright Statement | Meghji, Ali and Saini, Rima, Rationalising racial inequality: ideology, hegemony and post-racialism among the Black and South Asian middle classes. Sociology, 52 (4). pp. 671-687. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038517726645 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038517726645 |
Web of Science identifier | WOS:000442412900004 |
Language | English |
https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/88778
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