Critical Race Theory - Key Elements

Key Elements

Critical race theory draws on the priorities and perspectives of both Critical Legal Studies and conventional civil rights scholarship, while sharply contesting both of these fields. Angela Harris describes CRT as sharing "a commitment to a vision of liberation from racism through right reason" with the civil rights tradition. It deconstructs some premises and arguments of legal theory and simultaneously holds that legally constructed rights are incredibly important. As described by Derrick Bell and Angela Harris, critical race theory is committed to "radical critique of the law (which is normatively deconstructionist) and ... radical emancipation by the law (which is normatively reconstructionist)."

CRT's theoretical elements are provided by a variety of sources.

Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic have documented the following major themes as characteristic of work in critical race theory:

  • A critique of liberalism: CRT scholars favor a more aggressive approach to social transformation as opposed to liberalism's more cautious approach, favor a race conscious approach to transformation rather than liberalism's embrace of color blindness, and favor an approach that relies more on political organizing, in contrast to liberalism's reliance on rights-based remedies.
  • Storytelling/counterstorytelling and "naming one's own reality"—using narrative to illuminate and explore experiences of racial oppression.
  • Revisionist interpretations of American civil rights law and progress—criticizing civil rights scholarship and anti-discrimination law. An example is Brown v. Board of Education. Derrick Bell, one of CRT’s founders, argued that civil rights advances for blacks coincided with the self-interest of white elitist. Mary Dudziak performed extensive archival research in the US Department of State and US Department of Justice, as well as the correspondence by US ambassadors abroad. She found that passing of the laws in the US was not because people of color were discriminated against, rather it was to improve the image of the US to Third World countries that the US needed as allies during the Cold War.
  • Applying insights from social science writing on race and racism to legal problems.
  • The intersections theory is the examination of race, sex, class, national origin, and sexual orientation, and how their combination plays out in various settings, e.g., how the needs of a Latina female are different from that of a black male and whose needs are the ones promoted.
  • Essentialism philosophy —reducing the experience of a category (gender or race) to the experience of one sub-group (white women or African-Americans). Basically, all oppressed people share the commonality of oppression. However, that oppression varies by gender, class, race, etc., so the aims and strategies will differ for each of these groups.
  • Cultural nationalism/separatism, Black nationalism—exploring more radical views arguing for separation and reparations as a form of foreign aid.
  • Legal institutions, critical pedagogy, and minority lawyers in the bar.
  • The concept of structural determinism, or how "the structure of legal thought or culture influences its content," is a mode of thought or widely shared practice determines significant social outcomes. Usually this occurs without conscious knowledge and because of this, our system cannot redress certain kinds of wrongs.
  • White privilege refers to the myriad of social advantages, benefits, and courtesies that come with being a member of the dominant race, such as a clerk not following you around in a store or not having people cross the street at night to avoid you.
  • Microaggression refers to the sudden, stunning, or dispiriting transactions that mar the days of people of color. These include small acts of racism consciously or unconsciously perpetrated and act like water dripping on a rock wearing away at it slowly. Micoraggressions are based on the assumptions about racial matters that are absorbed from cultural heritage.
  • Empathic fallacy is the belief that one can change a narrative by offering an alternative narrative in hopes that the listener’s empathy will quickly and reliably take over. Empathy is not enough to change racism as most people are not exposed to many people different from themselves and people mostly seek out information about their own culture and group.

Gloria J. Ladson-Billings adds the theoretical element of whiteness as property. She describes whiteness as the ultimate property which whites alone can possess. It is valuable and is property. The ‘property functions of whiteness’—rights to disposition, rights to use and enjoyment, reputation and status property, and the absolute right to exclude—make the American dream a more likely and attainable reality for whites as citizens. For a CRT critic, the white skin color that some Americans possess is like owning a piece of property. It grants privileges to the owner that a renter (or a person of color) would not be afforded.

Karen Pyke documents the theoretical element of internalized racism or internalized racial oppression. The victims of racism begin to believe the ideology that they are inferior and white people and white culture are superior. The internalizing of racism is not due to any weakness, ignorance, inferiority, psychological defect, gullibility, or other shortcomings of the oppressed. Instead, it is how authority and power in all aspects of society contributes to feelings of inequality.

Camara Phyllis Jones defines institutionalized racism as the structures, policies, practices, and norms resulting in differential access to the goods, services, and opportunities of society by race. Institutionalized racism is normative, sometimes legalized and often manifests as inherited disadvantage. It is structural, having been absorbed into our institutions of custom, practice and law, so there need not be an identifiable offender. Indeed, institutionalized racism is often evident as inaction in the face of need. Institutionalized racism manifests itself both in material conditions and in access to power. With regard to material conditions, examples include differential access to quality education, sound housing, gainful employment, appropriate medical facilities and a clean environment.

As a movement that draws heavily from critical theory, critical race theory shares many intellectual commitments with critical legal studies, critical theory, feminist jurisprudence and postcolonial theory.

Recent developments in critical race theory include work relying on updated social psychology research on unconscious bias to justify affirmative action and work relying on law and economics methodology to examine structural inequality and discrimination in the workplace.

Read more about this topic:  Critical Race Theory

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