Racisme scientifique et « race » chez John Rogers Commons

Abstract

Although John R. Commons is often seen as a progressive economist who has questioned the emancipation of the human species throughout his career, he sometimes adopted some very ambiguous positions concerning the unity of humanity, particularly in his reflections on the race issue. The objective of this article is to show how Commons appears today as a racist author in his work on immigration, having participated in the development of scientific racism at the turn of the 20th century in the United States. This article allows to enrich the French-speaking works on Commons, which is silent on the racial issue in the view of Commons, while at the same time contributing to debates on the racist character of the author in the history of economic thought.

Keywords

• Commons (John R.)
• institutionalism
• race
• scientific racism
• immigration