We argue that claims of racial progress rest upon untenable teleological assumptions founded in Enlightenment discourse. We examine the theoretical and methodological focus on progress and its historical roots. We argue research should examine the concrete mechanisms that produce racial stability and change, and we offer three alternative frameworks for interpreting longitudinal racial data and phenomena. The first sees racism as a “fundamental cause,” arguing that race remains a “master category” of social differentiation. The second builds on Glenn’s “settler colonialism as structure” framework to describe race relations as a mutually constituted and place-based system of resource allocation. The third framework draws attention to racialized agency.

中文翻译：

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在种族研究中反对目的论：走向废除进步范式

我们认为，种族进步的主张基于启蒙话语中建立的站不住脚的目的论假设。我们研究了关于进步及其历史根源的理论和方法论重点。我们认为研究应该检查产生种族稳定和变化的具体机制，并且我们提供了三种替代的框架来解释纵向种族数据和现象。第一种将种族主义视为“根本原因”，认为种族仍然是社会分化的“主要类别”。第二种建立在格伦的“定居者殖民主义作为结构”框架的基础上，将种族关系描述为一个相互构成且基于场所的资源分配系统。第三个框架提请注意种族化代理。