Is New Racism Old News? Colorblind Nationalism as a Theory of the Multiracial Right

• In Event: What After Colorblind Racism? Theorizing Race and Ethnicity in the Modern World

Abstract

The Theory of New Racism is fundamental to the sociological study of race and racism. However, application of New Racism relies on presumptions about the racial, religious, and political makeup of the United States. The growing impact of demographic, cultural, and political shifts over the past several decades has produced a consistent stream of micro and meso-level modifications to the theory of New Racism. Here, I offer the Theory of Colorblind Nationalism as a macro-level theory which brings coherence to the inconsistencies of New Racism as a tool for explaining contemporary racial and political dynamics. Colorblind Nationalism explains how White Supremacy is adapting to shifting racial demographics through the predatory incorporation of non-White groups into the national identity, and therefore conservative politics. This is accomplished by construction of social, cultural, and religious boundaries which include these groups and present ideological outsiders, those on the political left, as threats to common nationalist values.

Author

• Marcus A Brooks, Western Kentucky University