The Class-Functionalist Theory of Race: An Empirical Exploration

Michael Billeaux, Madison Area Technical College
David Calnitsky, Western University

This article argues for a class functionalist explanation of race and examines some empirical evidence to evaluate it. Capitalist class relations are often unstable because exploitation produces conflict. Support mechanisms are thus required as system stabilizers. Those systems that find such support mechanisms are more likely to be durable in the long run. There are at least two such mechanisms: make the exploited content through rising incomes, or divide the discontented. Racial inequality stabilizes capitalism because it divides the discontented and provides a steady supply of low wage labor. Racial inequality, insofar as it “works,” is selected for. We present correlational evidence on whether or not we observe “functional benefits” of race on class, which is insufficient but necessary to support the functionalist explanation. In particular, correlational data ought to link racism with higher rates of inequality and higher profit rates. Because rising incomes may be an alternative functional stabilizer, we would expect a weaker functional relationship in contexts where median income growth is high. We therefore test the following hypotheses: (1) Societies with increasing income inequality should see lagged increases in racial exclusion, or political instability; (2) Societies with increasing rates of racial exclusion should see lagged increases in the profit rate; and (3) these relationships should be strongest in contexts with low income growth. We provide a general defense of functionalism and explain how it works and when it fails. Because the nature of functional explanation requires the explanandum to have important effects in the world, this argument puts race at the center of any discussion of capitalist class relations in racialized societies. Nonetheless, as we show in our conclusion, none of these arguments imply that racism is inherent to capitalist class relations. Racism may be explained by capitalism, even if it is not necessary for it.

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 Presented in Session 75. The Expansion/Contraction of Worker Categories