Racialization or ethnicization is a sociological concept used to describe the intent and processes by which ethnic or racial identities are systematically constructed within a society.[1][2] Constructs for racialization are centered on erroneous generalizations about racial aspects of distinct groups, leading to the denial of equal societal engagement.[3][4] It is a fallacy of groupism and a process of racial dominance that has lasting harmful or damaging outcomes for racialized groups.[5][6] An associated term is self-racialization, which refers to the practice by dominant groups to justify and defend their dominant status or to deny its existence. Individually, self-racialization may not be consistent throughout one's lifetime.[6]
^St Louis, Brett (2005). "Racialization in the "zone of ambiguity"". In Murji, Karim; Solomos, John (eds.). Racialization: Studies in Theory and Practice. Oxford University Press. pp. 29–50. ISBN0199257035.
^Hoyt, Carlos (19 January 2016). The Arc of a Bad Idea: Understanding and Transcending Race. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-938627-7 – via Google Books. Racialization is the process by which societies construct races as real, different and unequal in ways that matter to economic, political and social life. It involves: selecting some human characteristics as meaningful signs of racial difference; sorting people into races on the basis of variations in these characteristics; attributing personality traits, behaviours (sic) and social characteristics to people classified as members of particular races; and acting as if race indicates socially significant differences among people.
