The Meaning of Race The Meaning of Race

Race, History and Culture in Western Society

Kenan Malik

MACMILLAN © Kenan Malik 1996

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1996 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills; Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world

ISBN 978-0-333-62858-4 ISBN 978-1-349-24770-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-24770-7

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Introduction 1

1 Beyond the Liberal Hour 9 The Unmaking of Consensus 11 The Making of Consensus 13 The Meaning of the 'Liberal Hour' in Britain 19 Immigration and Assimilation in French Political Debate 26 Race and the Collapse of Consensus 29

2 The Social Limits to Equality 38 Race and the Enlightenment 39 Human Nature and Human Difference in Enlightenment Discourse 43 Equality and Social Conflict 55 Equality, Slavery and Private Property 61 The Social Limits to Equality 68

3 The Making of a Discourse of Race 71 Romanticism, Particularism and Race 73 Race in the Post-Enlightenment World 79 From Romantic Reaction to Scientific Racism 84 Race and Class in Victorian England 91

4 Race in the Age of Democracy 101 The Fear of the Masses 104 Degeneration and Racial Planning 109 Race, Imperialism and Democracy 114 Race, Science and Politics 119 Race and the Nazi Experience 123

5 Race, Culture and Nationhood 128 'What is a Nation?' 130 Race, Culture and Nation 133

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Culture as a Homologue of Race 140 From 'Many Men' to 'Many Worlds' 144

6 From Biological Hierarchy to Cultural Diversity 149 Franz Boas and the Remaking of the Culture Concept 150 The Ambiguity of the Culture Concept 156 Antihumanism and the Culture Concept 160 Levi-Strauss and the Celebration of Inequality 163 The Meaning of Multiculturalism 169

7 Cultural Wars 178 Immigration, Assimilation and National History 183 Islam, Enlightenment and Citizenship 193 Elitism and the Underclass 198 The Bifurcated World 209

8 Universalism, Humanism and the Discourse of Race 217 The West and its 'Others' 220 Orientalism and Ahistoricism 227 Discourse, Power and Knowledge 230 Humanism, Colonialism and the Holocaust 236 Appearance, Essence and Equality 247

9 Equality and Emancipation 260 From the 'Right to be Equal' to the 'Right to be Different' 261 Transcending 'Race' 265 Notes and References 270 Bibliography 292 Index 304 Acknowledgements

All books are, to some extent at least, collective efforts. This is probably more true of this book than of most. The Meaning of Race is the product of almost a decade of discussion and debate with friends and colleagues, most of whom it would be impossibe to name in an acknowledgement such as this. I would like to thank in particular Frank Furedi, James Heartfield and Naseema Khan for their generosity with both their time and their ideas. Marek Kohn read early drafts of this book even as he was working on his own, The Race Gallery. Steve Jones, Robin Cohen and Parekh Ahmed all provided valuable comments on various chapters. Richard Ings was of great assistance with the French material. My thanks to them all. Throughout the book I have borrowed freely from the work of various authors - Robert Miles' critique of the race relations paradigm, Maxim Silverman's analysis of race in French political discourse, Robin Black• burn's study of slavery, Eric Hobsbawm's history of nineteenth-century nationalism, Douglas Lorrimer's examination of race and class in Victo• rian England, Daniel Pick's investigation of the idea of degeneration, George Stocking's unearthing of the history of anthropology, Tzvetan Todorov's discussion of the relationship between universalism and par• ticularism, Aijaz Ahmad's dissection of poststructuralism. Few of these authors- perhaps none of them- will agree with all my arguments in this book. I hope, however, that they will find in The Meaning of Race a useful addition to the discussion and debate around many of these themes. Frances Arnold and Catherine Gray, my editors at the publishers, pro• vided support and encouragement throughout the project. Finally my thanks go to Kate Lowe, without whose loving companion• ship the writing of this book would have seemed so much more of a burden.

KENAN MALIK

Every effort has been made to contact all copyright-holders, but if any have been inadvertently omitted the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the earliest opportunity.

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