From “Xenophobia” to structural racism, and back? Epistemic obstacles, conceptual struggles, and the role of critical theory

Abstract

The concept of structural racism has become increasingly central to the political and ideological conflicts of our time. To many it appears as vague, unscientific, ideological. In this article, I first turn to a recent episode from the German history of racist violence to show how “structural racism” is mobilized in antiracist struggles to counter individualizing and depoliticizing mainstream framings. I then reconstruct the epistemic obstacles to talking about structural racism in Germany, including in critical theory in the Frankfurt School tradition. Subsequently, I sketch an understanding of structural racism that is informed by earlier work in that same tradition as well as contemporary social philosophy. I end by discussing how structural racism continues to structure interactions, practices, institutions, meanings and discourses in the current constellation.