ABSTRACT
This chapter examines briefly the major conservative, liberal and left-liberal conceptions of African American oppression, and points out the distinctive strengths of adopting a refined Marxist methodology and analytical perspective. It describes the Marxist tradition with the help of neo-Freudian investigations into the modern Western forms of isolation and separation, as well as through poststructuralist reflections on the role and function of difference, otherness and marginality in contemporary philosophical discourse by explaining more adequate conception of African American oppression. A genealogical materialist conception of social practices should be more materialist than that of the Marxist tradition, to the extent that the privileged material mode of production is not necessarily located in the economic sphere. Genealogical materialist analysis of racism consists of three methodological moments that serve as guides for detailed historical and social analyses. These include a genealogical inquiry, a microinstitutional analysis, and a macrostructural approach.
