Racial Capitalism and the Ecological Crises of the Anthropocene

The concept of racial capitalism has been embraced by scholars and activists as a means of exploring the common roots of contemporary social and ecological crises. These include unprecedented environmental degradation, extreme economic inequality, the resurgence of authoritarian ethno-nationalism, increasingly militarized and racialized policing and border control, and the expulsion to the margins of society of growing numbers of humans, including persons who are unemployed, incarcerated, or homeless. This essay examines the logic of racial capitalism in order to distinguish between reforms that entrench it and those that facilitate its dismantlement.