Critical race theory
Intellectual movement and framework
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Key Takeaways
- Critical race theory ( CRT ) is a conceptual framework developed to understand the relationships between social conceptions of Race and ethnicity in the United States, social and political laws, and mass media.
- The word critical in the name is an academic reference to critical theory, not criticizing or blaming individuals.
- For example, the CRT framework examines racial bias in laws and legal institutions, such as highly disparate rates of incarceration among racial groups in the United States.
- Scholars of CRT view race as a social construct with no biological basis.
- CRT scholars argue that the social and legal construction of race advances the interests of white people at the expense of people of color, and that the liberal notion of U.
Critical race theory (CRT) is a conceptual framework developed to understand the relationships between social conceptions of Race and ethnicity in the United States, social and political laws, and mass media. CRT also considers racism to be systemic in various laws and rules, not based only on individuals' prejudices. The word critical in the name is an academic reference to critical theory, not criticizing or blaming individuals.
CRT is also used in sociology to explain social, political, and legal structures and power distribution as through a "lens" focusing on the concept of race, and experiences of racism. For example, the CRT framework examines racial bias in laws and legal institutions, such as highly disparate rates of incarceration among racial groups in the United States. A key CRT concept is intersectionality—the way in which different forms of inequality and identity are affected by interconnections among race, class, gender, and disability. Scholars of CRT view race as a social construct with no biological basis. One tenet of CRT is that disparate racial outcomes are the result of complex, changing, and often subtle social and institutional dynamics, rather than explicit and intentional prejudices of individuals. CRT scholars argue that the social and legal construction of race advances the interests of white people at the expense of people of color, and that the liberal notion of U.S. law as "neutral" plays a significant role in maintaining a racially unjust social order, where formally color-blind laws continue to have racially discriminatory outcomes.
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