The Interactional Definition of Racism and Anti-Racism in Urban Spaces.

Is racism central to understand social structure, or is it a failed sociological concept because of its normative connotations? Based on 90+ qualitative interviews with law enforcement personnel in shopping malls and railway stations in France and Italy, this article suggests that racism is best conceived as a label. French interviewees are extremely reluctant to explicitly speak race and resort to a number of interactional strategies to avoid an accusation of racism. The explicit and unabashed designation of immigrants in Italy highlights by contrast French colorblind speech norms. One could interpret French circumlocutions and awkwardness as covert racism, or methodological problems of social desirability bias. An examination of the French security policy shows that the security team has to speak colorblind, but to act race-conscious, in order to achieve the same desired goal: to avoid an accusation of racism. This calls for research that analyzes the condition under which actors have to actively avoid being labeled as racists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]