ABSTRACT
Contemporary thinking justifies global inequality by linking market outcomes to individual effort and individual skill. Major Western thinkers such as Kant, Hegel, Smith, and Marx rationalize inequality by making racialized arguments. Adam Smith and Karl Marx produced incisive critiques of how capitalism produces inequality. Nevertheless, this critique is coupled with their support of capitalism’s progressive historical role. This historical role is used to explain and validate Western society’s colonial violence. Contemporary International Relations theory shows a clear preference for unit-level analysis over a more system-level investigation. This preference hides Western colonial violence. It also excuses inequality by stressing the connection between individual effort/skill and market reward.
