They can be. Races are, mainly, a social construct. But me pointing out the popular position amongst the majority of danish political parties is not racism. Some people just like to reach.
I think we mean the same? Race is a social construct, like whiteness. Its not something thats really inherent to anything, so there could be made a construct called “the Danish race.” There isn’t, but in some alternative reality there could be.
Or I might be misunderstanding you
I recommend checking the links. The theory of “race” is a bourgeois idea based on genetics, the theory of nations is a Marxist understanding of historically constituted peoples.
Right, I think we might be misunderstanding each other, because I looked at the links. How does “race being an idea based on genetics” go against “race is a social construct”? Gender is also based, in part, on some biology, but it is still a social construct. Gender, like race (as far as I understand it, and from what I got from the linked texts, though I only skimmed them, so my apologies if I am missing something big) uses genetics as a post-hoc justification for its existence.
Gender is a social expression of one’s felt sense of self. Race is pseudoscience used to categorize people into different “races” on the basis of genetics, but the Marxist understanding of nations is a more correct understanding of different groups of peoples with common history, language, and culture. The danish are not a “race,” they are a nation. Nations are very real, just as is gender, as is class, but “race” is not.
Gender is a social expression of one’s felt sense of self.
I really feel like we’re talking past each other. A person can express gender however they wish. It is also a social construct.
Race is pseudoscience used to categorize people into different “races” on the basis of genetics.
Right. Its something that society makes up without any real material basis. A social construction. Like gender. The patriarchy and all that.
Nations are very real, just as is gender.
Now I think youre the one conflating things. Sex is generally the thing people describe as “real” though it is also not a binary. Gender is the social construct, boys are blue and trucks girls are pink and ponies. “Gender” isn’t real beyond the social realm, just like race isn’t (and nations for that sense. We can construct a national identity around all sorts of stuff, the stuff does exist, the nation is socially constructed)
I must admit it really seems to me like we’re talking past each other. Or I hope we do, because otherwise I would be worried you believe in the gender binary. Im sure I’m misunderstanding something
I don’t think you’re quite understanding me. I’m not saying the “gender binary is real,” I am saying that gender as a social expression of one’s felt sense of self is real. The identification of oneself as gender nonconforming is a real, social aspect. Race is not. The social relations we all have are material processes. Capitalism is a material process. It sounds like you are dangerously close to suggesting trans identity is idealist, but this is fundamentally incorrect. I know you aren’t directly saying this, and that you do support trans identity, but without a grounded understanding of dialectical materialism, we cannot understand how social relations function.
Using capitalism as an example, capitalism is a material social relation. You cannot directly point to capitalism, just like you cannot point to gender or nation, but these all involve concrete relations between people. This is not idealism, where we see ideas as prior to matter, but instead relations between people as concrete processes. Race is not real, it is a bourgeois theory that attempts to draw hard lines between peoples that do not exist. Ideology is another excellent example of the relation of ideas to matter:
Ideology, in this context, refers not just to philosophy or ideas, but to a profoundly material force which exists in the practices, rituals and institutions of civil society; institutions such as the education system, the family, the church and the media.
Im not saying Danes are a race. Im saying race is a social construct, so there could be made such a construct such as “the danish race”. There isn’t, but there could be. Or otherwise im misunderstanding you
This isn’t quite correct. The Danes are a nation, not a “race.” Social relations are material processes, they don’t disappear just because someone has a different idea. “Race” is a bourgeois theory that states that there are hard lines genetically between peoples, while the Marxist theory of nations understands them as historically constituted communities of people with a common language, culture, and economic life.
Right. I dont really see what the point of contention is. I dont think “dane” is a race (of people teehee). A racial identity or whatever one would call it could be constructed around such a concept. While most Danish politicians are trying to construct something around a national identity that lets them be racist to brown people, there is also a small group trying to do it around some pseudoscientific idea of race - mainly about drinking milk?
So again: Dane is not a race (discounting some great dogs) because races aren’t really real, but because of that, one could construct the idea of a race, if it were something that would be beneficial to ones politics of whatever. And by “one” i actually mean “a bunch”.
My point is generally that social relations are real, material processes. Race does not fall into that category, ideas themselves are not material processes by themselves. Nations, genders, classes, and more are real, material, social relations and processes. Race is not. I think it might be helpful for you to brush up a bit more on dialectical materialism, and I don’t mean that in a demeaning manner.
Thank you for taking the time to unclear this knot. Ill look at the texts you’ve provided (the ones I haven’t already looked at, that is). Its all much appreciated.
They can be. Races are, mainly, a social construct. But me pointing out the popular position amongst the majority of danish political parties is not racism. Some people just like to reach.
Race is a bourgeois theory, I think you’re trying to get at the Marxist conception of the nation.
I think we mean the same? Race is a social construct, like whiteness. Its not something thats really inherent to anything, so there could be made a construct called “the Danish race.” There isn’t, but in some alternative reality there could be.
Or I might be misunderstanding you
I recommend checking the links. The theory of “race” is a bourgeois idea based on genetics, the theory of nations is a Marxist understanding of historically constituted peoples.
Right, I think we might be misunderstanding each other, because I looked at the links. How does “race being an idea based on genetics” go against “race is a social construct”? Gender is also based, in part, on some biology, but it is still a social construct. Gender, like race (as far as I understand it, and from what I got from the linked texts, though I only skimmed them, so my apologies if I am missing something big) uses genetics as a post-hoc justification for its existence.
Gender is a social expression of one’s felt sense of self. Race is pseudoscience used to categorize people into different “races” on the basis of genetics, but the Marxist understanding of nations is a more correct understanding of different groups of peoples with common history, language, and culture. The danish are not a “race,” they are a nation. Nations are very real, just as is gender, as is class, but “race” is not.
I really feel like we’re talking past each other. A person can express gender however they wish. It is also a social construct.
Right. Its something that society makes up without any real material basis. A social construction. Like gender. The patriarchy and all that.
Now I think youre the one conflating things. Sex is generally the thing people describe as “real” though it is also not a binary. Gender is the social construct, boys are blue and trucks girls are pink and ponies. “Gender” isn’t real beyond the social realm, just like race isn’t (and nations for that sense. We can construct a national identity around all sorts of stuff, the stuff does exist, the nation is socially constructed)
I must admit it really seems to me like we’re talking past each other. Or I hope we do, because otherwise I would be worried you believe in the gender binary. Im sure I’m misunderstanding something
I don’t think you’re quite understanding me. I’m not saying the “gender binary is real,” I am saying that gender as a social expression of one’s felt sense of self is real. The identification of oneself as gender nonconforming is a real, social aspect. Race is not. The social relations we all have are material processes. Capitalism is a material process. It sounds like you are dangerously close to suggesting trans identity is idealist, but this is fundamentally incorrect. I know you aren’t directly saying this, and that you do support trans identity, but without a grounded understanding of dialectical materialism, we cannot understand how social relations function.
Using capitalism as an example, capitalism is a material social relation. You cannot directly point to capitalism, just like you cannot point to gender or nation, but these all involve concrete relations between people. This is not idealism, where we see ideas as prior to matter, but instead relations between people as concrete processes. Race is not real, it is a bourgeois theory that attempts to draw hard lines between peoples that do not exist. Ideology is another excellent example of the relation of ideas to matter:
I also recommend the work of Harry Haywood on the question of “race” vs. Nation in the context of Black Statesians.
You’re mistaken. Danes are not a race.
Xenophobia is the term you were after.
Im not saying Danes are a race. Im saying race is a social construct, so there could be made such a construct such as “the danish race”. There isn’t, but there could be. Or otherwise im misunderstanding you
This isn’t quite correct. The Danes are a nation, not a “race.” Social relations are material processes, they don’t disappear just because someone has a different idea. “Race” is a bourgeois theory that states that there are hard lines genetically between peoples, while the Marxist theory of nations understands them as historically constituted communities of people with a common language, culture, and economic life.
Right. I dont really see what the point of contention is. I dont think “dane” is a race (of people teehee). A racial identity or whatever one would call it could be constructed around such a concept. While most Danish politicians are trying to construct something around a national identity that lets them be racist to brown people, there is also a small group trying to do it around some pseudoscientific idea of race - mainly about drinking milk?
So again: Dane is not a race (discounting some great dogs) because races aren’t really real, but because of that, one could construct the idea of a race, if it were something that would be beneficial to ones politics of whatever. And by “one” i actually mean “a bunch”.
My point is generally that social relations are real, material processes. Race does not fall into that category, ideas themselves are not material processes by themselves. Nations, genders, classes, and more are real, material, social relations and processes. Race is not. I think it might be helpful for you to brush up a bit more on dialectical materialism, and I don’t mean that in a demeaning manner.
Thank you for taking the time to unclear this knot. Ill look at the texts you’ve provided (the ones I haven’t already looked at, that is). Its all much appreciated.
No problem! This is one of those subjects that isn’t immediately understandable even though it seeks like it should be, so no worries!