> The problem with Richard Seymour's approach is that he is always trying to
> explain away those changes that are taking place. What use is it to go on
> about how fundamentally things will never change, if you are not going to
> look at the things that are changing?
Who says 'fundamentally things will never change'? What I said is that the idea of a race- and gender-neutral capitalism is a chimera. There never has been any such thing, and it is unlikely that there ever could be for reasons I outlined. That leaves room for tremendous social changes within the context of capitalism, with respect to the particular way in which racial and gender oppression works, its ferocity, the level of exploitation, etc. More fundamental change, ie the complete abolition of race and gender oppression, is something that is highly unlikely to be available within capitalism itself.
> You need to ask why it was that capitalist elites retreated from the
> explicit politics of 'white supremacism', and why they introduced the
> policies of affirmative action. I can remember arguing that capitalism in
> South Africa could never do without apartheid, and lo and behold, they
> abolished it.
>
I believe they 'abolished' explicit white supremacism due to overwhelming struggles by colonized societies, which fuelled related struggles among 'minorities' in the US, Australia and elsewhere. This opened up democratic possibilities, attenuated the violence and exploitativeness of racial orders, etc. What they did not abolish was precisely that structuring of labour markets according to racial and national status which continues to provide a successful model of accumulation.
The durability of such forms of oppression does need to explained, no less so than the ruptures in them, and indeed can be explained precisely in terms of the class analysis that we are encouraged to believe should supplant any focus on race/gender/etc.
-- Richard Seymour Writer and blogger Email: leninstombblog at googlemail.com Website: http://www.leninology.blogspot.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leninology Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Seymour_(writer) Book: http://www.versobooks.com/books/nopqrs/s-titles/seymour_r_the_liberal_defense_of_murder.shtml