Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Category: Race (Page 1 of 11)

These are posts on race from the blog Base and Superstructure. Race is one of the most important issues of political and social power. Topics include the relationship between race and class, racism in the United States and the rest of the world, and the relationship between race and political movements.

A sketch of two hands clasping together with the caption: 'together we lift the sky.' Intended to represent the modern abolitionist movement.

Am I An Abolitionist, Too?

January 15, 2024 / / 0 Comments

I’ve written specifically about prison abolition on this blog. But I haven’t written about modern abolitionism as a movement. Nor have I specified whether I’m an abolitionist. In that previous post, I discussed how disagreements over the concept of ‘prison’ produces misunderstandings. It clouds political debates in ways we can, and should, get past.

Of course, I wrote that first post 4 years ago. These debates took quite a turn in the summer of 2020. A more comprehensive abolitionist movement emerged into the stage of mainstream politics.

How does abolitionism, in its modern form, relate to prison abolition?

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Imagine has a group of factory workers entering the factory after being tended by women acting as doctors and healers. A caption reads 'Capitalism also depends on domestic labor.' The image represents social reproduction theory.

Social Reproduction Theory

October 30, 2023 /

In the recent edited collection Social Reproduction Theory, Tithi Bhattacharya and others make timely contributions to Marxist feminism.

Their main message is that rather than commodities, labor plays a central role in both production and the social reproduction of society. Contrary to dual-system theory, Bhattacharya and others see social reproduction theory as offering a unitary account of production and reproduction. Unlike many early Marxists, however, they center labor and class conflict in explaining both.

I’ll take a closer look at Bhattacharya’s introduction to the volume, as well as her essay in the collection. I think her work, in particular, best captures the spirit of the approach.

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Images of two questions from the Implicit Association Test. The images show a person at a computer looking at photos of a black person and a white person.

Two Deeper Problems for the Implicit Association Test

October 16, 2023 /

Anyone following the replication crisis (and other debates) in the social sciences knows about one key problem with the implicit association test. In short, it’s not clear whether the test predicts anything. That is to say, ‘implicit bias,’ as measured by the IAT, might not predict prejudice or discriminatory behavior.

That’s a problem for the IAT for the obvious reason that its creators intend it as a major tool in the fight against racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression.

But I want to suggest that the IAT has even deeper problems. At least two of them. Even if the IAT does predict behavior, it still doesn’t explain a lot about why racism and sexism and happen. Nor does it tells us how to fight them.

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Book cover for The Idea of Prison Abolition by Tommie Shelby.

The Idea of Prison Abolition

August 28, 2023 /

I recently read The Idea of Prison Abolition, a book by Tommie Shelby collecting his remarks in the Carl G. Hempel Lecture Series at Princeton. It’s a book on a polarizing issue, and its conclusions will satisfy few participants.

But that need not trouble us.

Shelby isn’t an abolitionist. Rather, he sets out to study the work of abolitionists in order to draw philosophical and practical insights about prisons. He draws insights both for our society and for the better societies we seek to build. Along the way, he draws key distinctions and offers sympathetic criticism of abolitionism. He also situates abolitionism within both black Marxist and black radical traditions.

It’s a worthwhile project, and I’ll take an extended look at it. I’ll also say a bit about how it clarifies and expands upon what I wrote about prison abolition some time ago.

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