The hollow shell: Loïc Wacquant's vision of state, race and economics

Abstract

Wacquant's ‘Marginality, Ethnicity and Penality in the Neo-liberal City’ makes important contributions to our understanding of the role of state in shaping patterns of racial domination under neo-liberal regimes. As important as his contributions are, however, two major flaws in his conceptual framework undermine the utility of his approach for either scholarly analysis or political intervention. First, Wacquant systematically and incorrectly downplays the role of capitalism in shaping the dynamics of racial domination under neo-liberalism. Second, Wacquant, by focusing on what he calls ‘hierarchies of honour’, misses the essence of the racial order in the USA and worldwide – a racial order that continues to promote white supremacy as a system of exploitation and domination.

Keywords:

• racial order
• Wacquant
• neo-liberalism
• capitalism
• neo-liberal state
• Jim Crow

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael C. Dawson

MICHAEL C. DAWSON is the John D. MacArthur Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago.