The Price of the Ticket: Race, Difference and Democracy in Contemporary Politics

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Description

Abstract:
In Black Reconstruction, W.E.B. Du Bois refers to democracy as a “problem as it expands and touches all races and nations.” Dubois’ perspective on the relationship between race, labor and democracy, urges readers to consider the counterintuitive possibility that democracy may actually serve as a barrier to equality for certain groups and populations, rather than, as often understood, a solution to inequality in diverse societies. Written in the 1930’s, DuBois’ was principally concerned with the rise of racism and fascism in countries that had been formerly, nominally democratic: The Weimar Republic of Germany, France, Falangist Spain, as well as the United States. The specialists organized for this roundtable have examined the nexus of race, difference and democracy in several locales in the contemporary world, and will consider how racial hierarchy and difference highlight the need for supplementary concepts and methodological approaches to better analyze the relationship between democracy and exclusion in plural societies.

Sub Unit

• Theme Panel

Cosponsor

• DIVISION 32: Race, Ethnicity and Politics

Chair

• Ainsley Nicole LeSure Occidental College

Presenters

• Michael G. Hanchard University of Pennsylvania

• George M. Shulman New York University

• Noora Anwar Lori Boston University

• Zoltan L. Hajnal University of California, San Diego