Critical race theory is a methodology, not an ideology

"Ideology" and "propaganda" shout those who are the greatest ideologues; not aware of the massive blinkers they wear themselves.

The real issue is anything that drives the concept of 'other'... and Black History Month does just that. We need to recognise that we are all members of a single race, the human race; and whilst not forgetting what happened in the past, move forwards as one. We cannot change the past, we CAN change the future, and where we spot a past injustice we can make sure it doesn't happen again. I ask students why Viv Anderson and Johnson Beharry are important. Is it because Viv Anderson was good enough at football to play for England and Johnson Beharry showed such outstanding courage on the battlefield that he was awarded a Victoria Cross... or is it merely because they happen to be on the dark end of the cline of skin pigmentation? We each have to decide if we want to forge a brighter future or wallow in the dark corners of the past.

We need an empirical turn in critical race theory. With the same rigour as in demography, American politics, or policy analysis, we need to seek experimental and observational, quantitative validation or rejection of elements of the theory. By rejecting such methods, critical race scholars make it too easy for themselves because they claim this area of the social sciences stands above, or outside of the realm of, the scientific method like the rest of the social sciences.

I found this really useful. It's not just CRT that suffers from being considered as a theory or ontology (words I would prefer to "ideology") as opposed to a methodology; many threads of the social sciences suffer from this. Thinking of it as a way of proceeding as opposed to positing a state of affairs could help us to put these discussions on a more even track. Among other things, it would allow any problems with this methodology to be outlined without this becoming a political stance. For instance, going purely from the account here, one might take issue with the notion of social structure used, but no doubt there's a more nuanced debate to be had in places where more detail is permitted.