Working Identity and Critical Race Theory: Implications for Critical Education Policy

• In Event: 52.034 - Doing Critical Policy Analysis in Education

Abstract

This paper builds on the work of Devon Carbado & Mitu Gulati and their thesis of institutions and policies being governed by a “working racial identity” and Nancy Leong's concept of “racial capitalism” in a “post-racial” U.S. While this notion of post-racialism is being asserted in the U.S., UK and other racialized countries, the racial realism is that social policy and institutions such as schools, colleges and the workforce are organized under a culture of “working racial identity” where one can be for example African American but not too black, or Latino spin, where they are both valued for their hard work and family values, but vilified as being illegal aliens and speaking Spanish. This paper argues that social and education policy is defined by this underlying but powerful definition and examples are offered from the existing literature on working identity and its connection to institutional practices. The paper builds on existing work in critical race theory (CRT) by linking its concepts to racial working identity and racial capitalism and offers a new direction for CRT scholarship and its utility for critical policy analysis in education.

Author

• Laurence Parker, University of Utah