Racial Capitalism and Urban Politics

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in empirical research and theoretical treatments of the framework of racial capitalism in the social sciences (Dantzler 2021; Gilmore 2007; 2002; Jenkins and Leroy 2021). The concept of racial capitalism, although most frequently associated with the work of political theorist Cedric Robinson (Robinson 2000), has been refined and deepened by interdisciplinary approaches across the humanities and social sciences, particularly in relation to urban studies (Ranganathan 2016; Fields and Raymond 2021; Mumm and Sternberg 2022; Fortner 2021; Rucks-Ahidiana 2022; Martínez 2023).

Despite the rapid expansion in urban studies research exploring and refining the concept, particularly in the fields of geography (Bonds 2019; Pulido 2017; Chari 2021; Derickson 2017) and sociology (Go 2021; Dantzler 2021; Dantzler, Korver-Glenn, and Howell 2022; Vargas 2022; Matlon 2016), political scientists and public policy scholars have not engaged with racial capitalism as an analytic framework to a similar extent (Fortner 2021; Mumm and Sternberg 2022; Huante 2022; Morel et al. 2022). The persistence of issues of race and class that have preoccupied urbanists for decades — segregation, inequality, uneven employment opportunities, and urban/regional housing markets, for example — merit careful consideration as distinctly political problems. There is a pressing need for theoretical, methodological, and empirical interventions that delve into debates in urban politics through the framework of racial capitalism.

This panel seeks to open up dialogue on the framework of racial capitalism in the field of urban politics. We hope to establish a shared vocabulary and broad agenda for future research. Topics will explore a range of geographies, methods, and institutional settings. The panelists’ proposed papers, summarized below, complement the Urban and Local Politics Section’s conference theme through their empirical and conceptual examinations of issues of racial and economic injustice. These contributions also attend to the structural constraints imposed by social and economic policies that reproduce the dynamics of racial capitalism.

Jared Clemons (Temple University) will present a paper entitled “Racial Inequality and the Economic Contradictions of the US Education System.” In it, he establishes the concept of the “education paradox” to argue that the education system is ill-suited to address structural racial inequality. Dr. Clemons analyzes a diverse set of archival and macroeconomic data to explain the ways in which the education paradox works in practice, and what policy alternatives might better address racial inequality. Patricia Posey (University of Chicago) will present her paper, “Exploring Race, Capitalism, and Financial Access in US Cities,” focusing on the processes that shape the quality and quantity of various consumer financial products (such as banks, payday loans, and pawnshops) in US cities and the political consequences of differential resource access. Additional empirical analysis on the intersections of racial capitalism and finance are explored in a paper by John Robinson III (Princeton University), entitled “Banking on Dystopia: Racial Capitalism and the Story of Affordable Housing in Desperate Times.” In this paper, Dr. Robinson compares two major trends in affordable housing markets: the increasingly limited availability of affordable housing for lower-income renters and growing interest by large financial institutions in affordable housing investments. Lastly, Chloe Thurston (Northwestern University) will present a paper coauthored with Molly Schiffer (Northwestern University), entitled “Causal Mechanisms in a Racialized Political Economy” that proposes a new methodological framework for urban politics integrating comparative historical analysis into the study of racial capitalism. This framework is applied to a case study that examines issues of spatial inequality.

Emily Holloway (Drexel University, Urban Affairs Review) will serve as the discussant for the panel. Timothy Weaver (University at Albany) will serve as Chair.

Sub Unit

• Division 30: Urban Politics

Individual Presentations

• Racial Inequality and the Economic Contradictions of the US Education System - Jared K. Clemons, Princeton University

• Exploring Race, Capitalism, and Financial Access in US Cities - Patricia Posey, University of Chicago

• Banking on Dystopia: Racial Capitalism and Affordable Housing in Desperate Times - John N Robinson

• Causal Mechanisms in a Racialized Political Economy - Chloe Thurston, Northwestern University; Molly Schiffer, Northwestern University

Chair

• Timothy Weaver SUNY, University at Albany

Discussant

• EMILY HOLLOWAY Drexel University