The Racial Contract

Explain how the Racial Contract transforms the key terms and principles of the social contract.

Discuss the relationship between The Epistemology of Ignorance and The View from the Bottom and what the relationship indicates about the way that one’s embodiment influences one’s perception of social reality.

Mills distinguishes between whiteness as a phenotype/genealogy and Whiteness as a system of sociopolitical and economic dominance. What purpose does this distinction serve, and what examples from the text indicate the distinction?

Mills chooses to draw inspiration from four classic contract theorists—Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Kant—rather than take the Rawlsian line of thought that dominates postmodern contract discourse. Why does he make this choice, and how does the choice reflect the constitutive elements of the Racial Contract?

Using evidence from the text, explain the relationship between capitalism and white supremacy.

Throughout the text, Mills references premodern theological antecedents to the Racial Contract. What do these antecedents reveal about the underlying bases of Western/European philosophy and the transformation from religious to secular means of global domination?

Explain the crucial distinction between personhood and subpersonhood, how the distinction is achieved, and how it intervenes in the contradiction between contract ideals and social reality.

Mills argues that the Racial Contract is theoretically superior to the classic contract and that the Racial Contract theory should supplement dominant contract discourse. Do you agree? Using evidence from the text, explain why or why not.