The Race Illusion

On the Reality of Racialization and the Myth of Race

Adam Hochman (Associate Professor, Associate Professor, Macquarie University)

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English

Oxford University Press
21 August 2025

Social & cultural history; Social & political philosophy; Popular philosophy; Society & Social Sciences

In The Race Illusion, Adam Hochman argues that there are no human races, only racialized groups-groups mistakenly believed to be races. He meticulously critiques all of the major defenses of the view that races exist, beginning with biological accounts. While there is some human biological diversity, it is not distributed in a way that would justify racial classification. Hochman shows how modern attempts to revive race as a biological category either trivialize the category or change the topic entirely.

Many now believe race to be a 'social construct,' a phrase Hochman criticizes for its ambiguity. The idea of race is a social invention, racial classification is determined by social factors, and racism is a social phenomenon. However, that does not mean that 'race' itself is social. Hochman argues that for social races to exist, they would need to be definable in terms of social properties; yet scholars have been unable to identify the social properties that plausibly make a group a race.

After examining ten biological and seven social accounts of race, Hochman develops and defends the view in The Race Illusion that there are no races, only racialized groups. He argues that rejecting 'race' as a category of analysis and replacing it with 'racialized group' is not only the most theoretically sound approach, but also the one best suited to fighting racism.

By: Adam Hochman (Associate Professor Associate Professor Macquarie University)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 223mm, Width: 144mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 399g
ISBN: 9780198926016
ISBN 10: 0198926014
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 21 August 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Adam Hochman is Associate Professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He works on the philosophies of biology, psychology, and race.