>Let's set aside the long run for the moment. Do white workers gain
>_increases in real wages & social programs that outpace rises in
>productivity_ by practicing racism _even in the very short term_?
People perceive their well-offness in relation to their peers. A "poor" person in the U.S. is rich by global standards, but we still think of that person as poor. So a white worker who enjoys material and psychological advantages over a black workers - or male over female - feels better off than if there were no racial or gender advantage to enjoy. Next to that, productivity is an abstraction of interest only to pointy-heads.
Doug