Language and Racial Capitalism: Linguistic Anthropological Approaches to Minoritized Labor, Standard Language, and Racial Bias

Abstract

This article examines racial capitalism from a semiotic perspective, arguing that economic value, like language and race, can be described in situated and indexical terms. I attempt to show how raciolinguistic bias in and around the workplace is linked to a larger labor market in which minoritized labor is reproduced in a systemic way, and to explore hegemonic formations of racialization in the workplace and beyond. The jumping‐off point for much of my argument is the work of the historian and political theorist Cedric Robinson.