The Ritual of Restitution: Repairing Overt Racist Breaches in a Colorblind Racial Order

• In Event: 429 - Regular Session. Racialization and Racism in Public Discourse

Abstract

Although sociologists are adept at explaining the ideological underpinnings of social stratification, we have paid relatively little attention to the ways in which social actors manage the potentially damaging effects of breaches to status quo ideologies. Drawing on a narrative analysis of three high-profile overt racist speech acts in the United States – those of Trent Lott, Michael Richards, and Don Imus – we argue that such acts trigger a “ritual of restitution” that serves to shield today’s dominant “colorblind” ideology from challenge and thereby allows structural inequalities to persist. Following the isolated scholarly efforts of ethnomethodologists, ritologists, and analysts of organizational behavior, we suggest that institutional and social arrangements do not perpetuate themselves, but must be continuously repaired, in part through the performance of highly scripted rituals. We therefore do not dismiss colorblind ideology as a theoretical framework, but urge instead a shift in analytical focus to the practices by which the notion of a colorblind society is reaffirmed in the face of overt racist breaches.

Authors

• Cedric de Leon, Providence College

• Rachael Elizabeth Gorab, Northeastern University

• Maureen Curran Outlaw, Providence College