The Race and Capitalism Project

The Race and Capitalism project, initiated by the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture (CSRPC), 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.  This project was initiated and conceived at the CSRPC and the Washington Institute for the Study of Inequality and Race (WISIR) at the University of Washington.  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; and 3) What theoretical approaches to the studies of capitalism and race best explain the empirical reality of 21st century capitalism.  Three working groups are being formed to investigate respectively the theoretical, historical and contemporary empirical contours of this project.  There is also discussion about formation of a fourth working group on the global aspects of race and capitalism.  Key goals include increasing collaboration between scholars across disciplines; advancing the state of scholarship on race and capitalism; and where appropriate highlighting key findings from the project for use in public discourse.  

For more information, visit https://www.ssrc.org/programs/scholarly-borderlands/race-and-capitalism/#:~:text=The%20Race%20and%20Capitalism%20project,simultaneously%20shaped%20processes%20of%20racialization. 

University of Chicago contributor, Professor Michael C. Dawson

University of Washington contributor, Professor Megan Ming Francis