The Futures of Racial Capitalism

by Gargi Bhattacharyya

Capitalism appears to be endlessly in crisis but without ever loosening its hold on our lives. New modes of racism and exclusion emerge, but the old ones never go away. We continue to struggle to live and survive in its wake but are unable, still now, to build commonality with each other. In this incisive book, Gargi Bhattacharyya revisits debates about racial capitalism and its violence through differentiation. Taking the four lenses of prisons, borders, debt and platforms, Bhattacharyya reveals how this moment of capitalist crisis positions humans as expendable, but differentially so, in a process that remakes longstanding racialized hierarchies. Uncovering practices and techniques embedded in the shifting processes of accumulation and state power, the chapters illuminate how value is extracted from populations through non-wage routes and indebtedness. This engaging introduction to racial capitalism offers an interlocking and insightful analysis of capitalist renewal, essential for students and scholars interested in issues of race, racism and inequality.

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 24, 2024

About the author

Gargi Bhattacharyya is a Professor of Sociology at the University of East London. They have written widely in the fields of racism, sexuality, global cultures and the ‘war on terror’.