Advancing the state of scholarship on race and capitalism.

We are at a critical moment in the history of race and capitalism in the United States. The country has “emerged,” regionally unevenly, from one of the most devastating recessions in history at the same time right-wing nationalist rhetoric is ratcheting up and unarmed blacks continue to be killed in the streets. In 2015, we were surprised about how few spaces existed within the scholarly and public spheres that connected these processes and examined the mutually constitutive structures of capitalism and race. The absence was magnified by the continual predation in black and Latinx communities in the United States. To address this need, we launched a project to study the intersection of race and capitalism within the U.S. and to contribute to the national debate on the topic. The Race and Capitalism project initiated by both the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture (CSRPC) at the University of Chicago and WISIR at the University of Washington is a multi-institution collaboration that seeks to reinvigorate, strengthen and deepen scholarship on how processes of racialization within the U.S. shaped capitalist society and economy and how capitalism has simultaneously shaped processes of racialization.

Central questions include:

1. What is the relationship between racial and economic inequality?

2. How has the relationship between various racial and ethnic groups, the economy and civil society changed over time?

3. What theoretical approaches to the studies of capitalism and race best explain the empirical reality of 21st century capitalism?

4. How do white supremacy, patriarchy, financialized global capitalism, and other forms of domination articulate with each other?

Key goals include:

1. Increasing collaboration between scholars across disciplines

2. Advancing the state of scholarship on race and capitalism

3. And where appropriate, highlighting key findings from the project for use in public discourse