ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights some of the central issues in the contemporary academic debate around the terms 'race' and racism. It is necessary to pursue the debate that will enable a clearer understanding of the factors that contribute to the persistence of both 'race' and racism in contemporary society. It is a political economy of modernity within an analytical framework which acknowledges globalisation, which will enable social scientists to account in a dynamic manner for the persistence of 'race' and racism. An analysis and understanding of the process of constructing identity and difference (the politics of identity), must constitute one of the primary objectives of an alternative paradigm which can account for the persistence of 'race' and racism; this is the political economy of modernity. The politics of identity should be incorporated as a central component of any analytical paradigm that accounts for the oppression, subordination and sociopolitical exclusion of immigrant and settler populations.
