Language and Racial Capitalism: Linguistic Anthropological Approaches to Minoritized Labor, Standard Language, and Racial Bias

This article examines racial capitalism from a semiotic perspective, arguing that economic value, like language and race, can be described in situated and indexical terms. I attempt to show how raciolinguistic bias in and around the workplace is linked to a larger labor market in which minoritized labor is reproduced in a systemic way, and to explore hegemonic formations of racialization in the workplace and beyond. The jumping-off point for much of my argument is the work of the historian and political theorist Cedric Robinson.