Michael Omi
Encyclopedia
Michael Omi is an American
sociologist. Professor Omi is best known for developing the theory of racial formation along with Howard Winant
. Omi serves on the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley
. Omi's work includes race theory, Asian American studies
, and antiracist scholarship.
.
to describe the social construction of the race concept in contemporary US society. Omi and Winant argue that race emerged as an organizing factor in society due to political actions they call racial projects. These racial projects remain ongoing, making race an unstable social category that constantly changing, as evidenced by the changing nature of race relations as the result of political actions such as the Civil Rights Movement
. Still, as Gramsci would predict, the reforms secured during crisis moments like the Civil Rights era serve merely to incorporate resistance. The political project of racial equality remains incomplete. Thus, the fundamental dynamics of race including institutional racism and continued inequality along racialized lines remain in place today, according to Omi and Winant.
Racial formation has solidified as one of the primary paradigms of sociological understandings of race. Omi and Winant identify reductionist theories of race that identify race as epiphenomenal rather than durable as the chief competing theories of racial dynamics in contemporary sociology.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sociologist. Professor Omi is best known for developing the theory of racial formation along with Howard Winant
Howard Winant
Howard Winant is an American sociologist and race theorist. Professor Winant is best known for developing the theory of racial formation along with Michael Omi...
. Omi serves on the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. Omi's work includes race theory, Asian American studies
Asian American Studies
Asian American Studies is an academic discipline which studies the experience of people of Asian ancestry in America. Closely related to other Ethnic Studies disciplines such as African American Studies, Latino/a Studies, and Native American Studies, Asian American Studies critically examines the...
, and antiracist scholarship.
Education and career
Omi holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Santa CruzUniversity of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...
.
Racial formation in the United States
Omi's most influential work has been his 1986 collaboration with UC Santa Barbara Professor Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States. The theory draws upon Gramsci's conception of hegemonyHegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
to describe the social construction of the race concept in contemporary US society. Omi and Winant argue that race emerged as an organizing factor in society due to political actions they call racial projects. These racial projects remain ongoing, making race an unstable social category that constantly changing, as evidenced by the changing nature of race relations as the result of political actions such as the Civil Rights Movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
. Still, as Gramsci would predict, the reforms secured during crisis moments like the Civil Rights era serve merely to incorporate resistance. The political project of racial equality remains incomplete. Thus, the fundamental dynamics of race including institutional racism and continued inequality along racialized lines remain in place today, according to Omi and Winant.
Racial formation has solidified as one of the primary paradigms of sociological understandings of race. Omi and Winant identify reductionist theories of race that identify race as epiphenomenal rather than durable as the chief competing theories of racial dynamics in contemporary sociology.
Key publications
- Racial Formation in the United States (with Howard Winant) (New York and London: Routledge, 1986; Second Edition, 1994).
- "The Changing Meaning of Race," in Neil Smelser, William Julius Wilson, and Faith Mitchell, editors, America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences ( Washington , D.C. : National Academy Press, 2001).
- "(E)racism: Emerging Practices of Antiracist Organizations," in Birgit Brander Rasmussen, Eric Klinenberg, Irene J. Nexica, and Matt Wray, editors, The Making and Unmaking of Whiteness (Durham: Duke University Press, 2001).
- "'Who Are You Calling Asian?': Shifting Identity Claims, Racial Classifications, and the Census," (with Yen Espiritu) in Paul M. Ong, ed., The State of Asian Pacific America : Transforming Race Relations ( Los Angeles : LEAP Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute and UCLA Asian American Studies Center , 2000 ).