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‘Race’ is both an empty category and one of the most destructive and powerful forms of social categorization. How is this paradox to be explained and how are its negative consequences for human lives to be resisted? (Rustin 1991: 57).
Psychoanalysis is limited in what it can say about social categories. It can say something in general about the process of categorizing. Categorizing is a ubiquitous process, which is both a powerful tool for civilization and also one of the most destructive forces of oppression. The way social categories are used is a social phenomenon. However, in considering race as one example of these destructive forms of stereotyping, I shall argue that the organization of the individual mind is a basis on which the organization of social categories necessarily depends. I shall detail the model of racism which Freud hinted at, and then use racism as one example of the destructive and narcissistic form of stereotyping.