Oliver Cox, Race: A Study In Social Dynamics

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The inequalities that people of various genders and races experienced and dealt with in the early days of racism is validated through the texts of Oliver Cromwell and Anne McClintock. Through their eyes one is able to grasp the development and methods used in order to understand the historical context of racism and how racial antagonism and racial antipathy influenced the social attitudes of our society. To understand racism, the lack of equal treatment that many encountered in the past, one also needs to understand how race aggression played a pivotal role. In the late 19th Century, some important aspects to ponder were albeit, racial exploitation, assimilation, lynching and marriage restrictions, as well as gender inequality, which ultimately led to the expansion of racial stratification. In conclusion, "making sense of the meaning of race and the character of race relations in American life requires an understanding of capitalism as a social system and it's specific history of this country." (Cox 2000: 6) In his text, Race: A Study of Social Dynamics, Cox argues and presents formidable facts based on history and his ideas of race antagonism. At the onset he provides facts that race antagonism, racial prejudice and race exploitation commenced with a societal outlook from people, “it is the phenomenon of the capitalist exploitation of peoples and its complementary social attitude” (Cox 2000:5). As Cox further ventured into other cultures in his quest to see if he could find race antagonism, he found that race opposition in many nations was not listed as a top priority when pertaining to the social caste system. In India, for example, Cox found that the basic caste system was not a racially defined system and instead based on a cultural-class system. He argues that caste is not distinct by physical characteristics as race prejudice is and is more an
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