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9.1: Race, Ethnicity, and the American Political-Legal System

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    324923
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    The foundational declaration that “all men are created equal” has existed in persistent tension with the American realities of slavery, genocide, and legalized inequality. This chapter takes a closer look at how the American political and legal systems are not neutral arbiters of a colorblind society but have historically been, and continue to be, primary sites for the construction and maintenance of racial hierarchy. Simultaneously, these systems have also been the central arena for challenging and dismantling that hierarchy. The state, through its laws, policies, and institutional practices, actively produces racial categories, distributes resources along racial lines, and shapes the very meaning of race itself (Omi and Winant 2014).

    This chapters traverses this contested terrain by examining key sociological theories of the state and race, followed by a historical analysis of how law has codified racial difference. We will also take a closer look at contemporary political behavior, analyzing the racialization of party affiliation and the persistent significance of racially charged issues like voting rights, criminal justice, and immigration. We should get a clearer view of how politics and law are not merely reflective of societal racial attitudes but are constitutive forces that structure life chances and group identities in the United States.


    9.1: Race, Ethnicity, and the American Political-Legal System is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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