Chapter 1 The Racial Contract
Charles W. Mills
About The Racial Contract
When you hear “social contract,” you might think of philosophers like Hobbes, Locke, or Rousseau—those classic white guys who imagined that society was based on a kind of agreement between free and equal individuals. But Charles W. Mills, a Jamaican-American philosopher, comes in with a serious reality check: that version of the contract? It leaves out a lot of people.
In his 1997 book The Racial Contract, Mills argues that the real “contract” that shaped the modern world isn’t just about government and freedom—it’s about race. He says there’s been a kind of unspoken contract among white people to dominate and exploit nonwhite people—and that this agreement is baked into the foundations of Western society, politics, and even philosophy.
This is what Mills calls the Racial Contract. It’s not a literal document, but a powerful and ongoing set of assumptions and systems that define who counts as fully human, who gets rights, and who gets excluded. And here’s the kicker: most traditional philosophers ignored this reality, or worse, helped justify it.
Mills calls out this erasure and demands that we confront the ways in which racism isn’t just a bug in the system—it’s part of the system. He brings together history, philosophy, and social criticism to show that white supremacy has shaped everything from property rights to citizenship to education.
This work is challenging, eye-opening, and deeply relevant to today’s world. Mills invites readers not just to rethink political theory—but to see how race, power, and injustice operate in the real world, right now.
Before You Read
Ask yourself this: When we talk about fairness, justice, or “social contracts,” who’s included in that conversation—and who’s left out?
In this reading, Charles W. Mills flips the traditional idea of the social contract on its head. Instead of imagining a world where everyone agrees to treat each other equally, Mills says the real contract—the racial contract—has historically worked to benefit white people at the expense of others.
Before diving in, take a moment to think about the world around you. Who holds power? Who’s overrepresented in leadership, in the media, in textbooks? Who’s missing from those spaces? Mills is asking us to connect the dots between those patterns and the deep philosophical structures that support them.
This reading isn’t about guilt—it’s about clarity. Mills wants us to see the truth, challenge the myths, and start imagining a more just contract.
Guiding Questions
- What is the “Racial Contract” and how does it differ from the traditional “social contract”?
- How does Mills argue that white supremacy has shaped Western political and social structures?
- Why does Mills think traditional political philosophy has ignored or erased race?
- How might acknowledging the Racial Contract change the way we think about justice and equality?
Where to find this reading
This contemporary text is not in the public domain or shared with a creative commons license. Your college or university may have access to this reading through this source
