ABSTRACT
The essence of inequality, and the additional introduction and maintenance of race, is to be found in exploring exploitation in historical forms of capitalism, whether as slavery, colonialism, or contemporary forms of global capitalism. This chapter suggests how the tools aid in investigating the various fields of inequality where the social construct “race” has ancillary or primary effects. Kenan Malik captures the difficulties when he questions frequent, apparently inclusive, historical commitments to “equality of all”, while gross inequality, confirmed through comparisons between life chances of “races”, continues largely undisturbed. Race remains a central factor in many societies, in some cases increasingly so. There are real and perceived benefits in maintaining it by both beneficiaries and in resistance to its effects—most effective as a step in combating existential inequality. “Race” is a slippery notion, metamorphosing constantly, waxing and waning, over time and place, and held by both oppressors and the oppressed.
