The semantics of race

@article{Goldberg1992TheSO,
  title={The semantics of race},
  author={David theo Goldberg},
  journal={Ethnic and Racial Studies},
  year={1992},
  volume={15},
  pages={543-569}
}
  • D. Goldberg
  • Published 1 October 1992
  • Sociology
  • Ethnic and Racial Studies
Abstract I argue that the concept of race assumes specific meanings relative to prevailing historical conditions and discourses in given societies. In analysing these changes in significance, I focus on contemporary cultural conceptions of race. Here, I argue against the prevailing wisdom, that racial reference does not necessarily invoke underlying biological reference. From this I derive a general conception of race as virtually vacuous, reflective of dominant social discourses, forging self… 
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