Racism and liberalism: the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion

This essay explores the argument that David Scott FitzGerald and David Cook-Martín make in their book Culling the Masses about the relationship between liberalism and racism, in terms of a balance between inclusion and exclusion. I challenge their dismissal of approaches that see an integral connection between the two and of approaches that see liberalism as inherently opposed to racism. I also discuss their characterization of Latin American ‘racist anti-racism’ and finish by questioning the way that they separate racism from economics.