The theory of racial formation is often utilized to understand structural racism. This theory, taking its roots in the works of W. E. B. Du Bois (notably The Philadelphia Negro), attempts to explain the nature of structural racism (UMass Amherst Libraries, 2018). As defined by sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant, racial formation is “the process through which social, political, and economic forces influence how a society defines racial categories – and how those racial categories in turn end up shaping those forces” (CrashCourse, 2017). From this definition, one can conclude that racism often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
For a closer look, let us utilize the theory of racial formation to understand real-life examples of racism. The video report by Vice News (2016), Driving While Black in New Jersey describes the study by the Seton Hall Law School Center for Policy & Research. The goal of the study was to investigate the claims of racial profiling by the Bloomfield Police Department. It was found that the police purposefully focus on non-White neighborhoods and tailed specifically the cars with Black and Latino passengers, often without visible reason. The result is that, although Bloomberg is predominantly White, most car tickets end up being written to Black and Latino drivers. Based on these statistics, the police can continue to justify their overrepresentation in non-White neighborhoods.
Another example can be found in the video The (re)birth of the double consciousness | Nicole Johnson | TEDxGallatin 2014 by TEDx Talks (2014), where the speaker brings up her middle school experience. Due to the lack of presence of Black people in educational institutions, she and many other young people felt they were abandoning their culture if they wanted to pursue this path. This leads to fewer Black people in education, and so the cycle continued. The theory of racial formation provides an understanding of how structural racism is a cycle that sustains itself.
References
CrashCourse. (2017). Dubois & race conflict: crash course sociology #7 [Video]. YouTube. Web.
TEDx Talks. (2014). The (re)birth of the double consciousness | Nicole Johnson | TEDxGallatin 2014[Video]. YouTube. Web.
UMass Amherst Libraries. (2018). 24th annual W. E. B. DuBois lecture featuring Dr. Reiland Rabaka [Video]. YouTube. Web.
VICE News. (2016). Driving while Black in New Jersey [Video]. YouTube. Web.