WHITENESS AND EXCLUSION: THE SOCIAL CONTRACT IN CHARLES MILLS’S ANALYSIS

Resumo

This article examines Charles Mills’s work The Racial Contract. His approach is crucial for understanding how race operates in modern society and its enduring implications today. Mills highlights the tension between the idea of a universal social contract and its actual, racially racialized implementation. While the contract is founded on the concept of “human being”, this definition effectively excludes non-white people. Mills reveals the various ways in which participation is restricted, exploring how the construction of the “other”, the denial of non-Western knowledge, and the moral and social frameworks sustained by race expose the enduring power of racial structures in shaping society. Unawareness functions as one of the key mechanisms through which the ideology of whiteness is perpetuated and, simultaneously, establishes the limits of the white worldview. This discussion provides readers with a critical analysis of the complex and multifaceted nature of whiteness, engaging with the work of other authors and theorists.