An Ostensibly Raceless Nation

Chapter 4 presents the thesis of the racialization of class, arguing that racial understandings are deeply interconnected to class principles. The analysis starts by showing how despite the assumption that mestizaje eradicated all racial ideas, people employ a wide range of racialized notions in everyday interactions. Second, it shows how the class system deeply influences these racial ideas. This argument does not assume that the wealthier the person, the whiter they are perceived to be. Instead, it is explained why racial notions change from more fluid cultural assumptions at the bottom and middle part of the class hierarchy to more rigid biological views at the top of the socioeconomic order. The transformation is linked to both the changing nature of capital and the phenotypical composition of the upper classes. The chapter ends by using a series of concrete ethnographic examples to illustrate the argument of the racialization of class.