Overview

Racism, Sexism, Power and Ideology argues that there is nothing obvious' or natural' about our ideas of sex and race. The book looks at the evolution of these ideas. Guillaumin contends that the slow crystallization of ideas on human races' over the last few centuries can be grasped through the study of signs and their systems. However, race and sex are in no way purely abstract or symbolic phenomena. They are the hard facts of society. To be a man or woman, black or white are matters of social reality. To be a member of a particular race or sex does not bring with it the same opportunities, the same rights or the same constraints. The author examines how these constraints operate and shape our life experience. From a more theoretical standpoint the text tackles the particular links between the daily materiality of social relationships and mental conventions. Materiality and ideology (in the sense of the perception of things') are two sides of the same coin. Relationships of sex and race follow an ancient history of physical right of the one over the other. Slavery and patriarchy are defined by direct physical rights which is not without its consequences: those who are factually objects in social relationships (the mental elements of reality) are so equally in thought and reality.

Full Product Details

Author:   Colette Guillaumin
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 13.80cm , Height: 1.70cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.384kg
ISBN:  

9780415093859

ISBN 10:   0415093856
Pages:   300
Publication Date:   23 March 1995
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface Introduction: (Re)constructing the Categories of 'Race' and 'Sex': The Work of a Precursor - Danielle Juteau Part I 1. The Specific Characteristics of Racist Ideology 2. The Idea of Race and its Elevation to Autonomous Scientific and Legal Status 3. 'I know it's not nice, but...': The Changing Face of 'Race' 4. 'Wildcat' Immigration 5. The Rapacious Hands of Destiny Part II 6. Race and Nature: the System of Marks 7. Women and Theories about Society: the Effects on Theory of the Anger of the Oppressed 8. Sexism, a Right-wing Constant of any Discourse: a Theoretical Note 9. The Practice of Power and Belief in Nature: Part I The Appropriation of Women Part III 10. The Practice of Power and Belief in Nature: Part II The Naturalist Discourse 11. The Question of Difference 12. Herrings and Tigers: Animal Behaviour and Human Society 13. History, Nature and 'Materialism'

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Colette Guillanumin

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