racism
Definition
Racism refers to a system of attitudes, ideologies, and structural arrangements that assign social position and power on the basis of race, a construct that is social rather than biological in origin. It operates at both individual and societal levels, with systemic forms such as Jim Crow Laws serving historically as models for analogous oppressive governance elsewhere. Rather than representing a fixed or archaic set of prejudices, racism evolves continuously within shifting political and cultural conditions, such that contemporary ethno-nationalist movements cannot be reduced to simple regressions to prior historical instances. This dynamic quality means that racism and related ideologies are always remade in forms specific to their present moment, precluding any characterization of them as merely old-fashioned.
Sources: Perez et al. (2026), Leach et al. (2026)
Related Terms
- authoritarianism (2 shared articles)
- democracy (2 shared articles)
- colorblindness (1 shared article)
- critical history (1 shared article)
- polarization (1 shared article)
- societal change (1 shared article)
- social movements (1 shared article)
- systems (1 shared article)
Applications
Racism and Authoritarianism
Racism and authoritarianism are historically intertwined in U.S. governance, with policies such as Jim Crow Laws exemplifying how racial hierarchy was enforced through the concentration of political power among White citizens and the systematic disenfranchisement of people of color. Leaders of Nazi Germany drew directly on U.S. racism as a model for constructing and oppressing stigmatized minority groups, illustrating that racial authoritarianism functions across national contexts. Colorblind ignorance of these histories renders publics more receptive to contemporary authoritarian rhetoric, since the structural origins of racism in U.S. legal and political institutions remain obscured.
Sources: Perez et al. (2026)
Racism and Collective Memory
Collective memory shapes how racism is understood across generations, and selective or distorted recall of racial history sustains colorblind ideologies that treat racist governance as exceptional rather than foundational to U.S. democracy. Curricular omissions and low civic knowledge contribute to this pattern, leaving the public poorly equipped to recognize continuities between historical racial oppression and present political conditions. Exposure to critical racial histories can counter this tendency, with findings showing that such exposure increases recognition that racism persists into the present.
Sources: Perez et al. (2026)
Racism and Societal Change
Racism, like authoritarianism and fascism, is best understood as a dynamically evolving ideology rather than a static phenomenon that either progresses or regresses along a linear historical trajectory. Viewing it through discrete epochs of advance or decline obscures the continuous, non-linear ways it is remade within new political, cultural, and social conditions. This framework cautions against treating contemporary ethno-nationalist or White supremacist movements as simply a return to the past, since such movements are always constituted by the distinctive realities of their present moment.
Sources: Leach et al. (2026)
