Journal of Studies in Language, Culture and Society (JSLCS)
Volume 9, Numéro 1, Pages 168-182
2026-04-30

Intersecting Race, Class, And Identity Through Satirical Resistance: A Critical Reading Of Paul Beatty's The Sellout



Authors : Farhan Raed .

Abstract

Abstract In the present paper, The Sellout (2015) by Paul Beatty has been interpreted intersectionally to elaborate on how satire can indicate how race, class and identity are interrelated in contemporary American society. Even though the growing literature on the novel focuses on these types of analysis, the majority of researches are performed concerning them separately, obscuring their structural interdependence. The novel herein is placed in the context of Critical Race Theory, the study of satire, and the sociology of class and symbolic capital developed by Bourdieu to examine how Beatty is using grotesque humour and parody to criticise the post-racial and neoliberal arguments on class. The research takes a qualitative interpretive approach that is geared towards intensive reading of the short passages that highlight social contradictions that are dramatized in the text. Three overall lessons can be made out of the findings: (1) racism as a systemic aspect exists under liberalisms of racial development; (2) class as an economic order is also a symbolic capital, which forms identity formation; and (3) identity manifests itself as an unsteady and performative entity that is exposed through exaggerated forms of satire. Taken as a whole in one analytical prism, the study provides a more in-depth insight into Beatty as a satire as a form of cultural resistance and preconditions the development of further intersectional studies of modern African American satire. In addition, the study emphasizes the relevance of literary satire as a critical methodological lens for interrogating contemporary power relations, ideological discourse, and cultural representation within late-capitalist societies, thereby extending the analytical value of interdisciplinary literary research.

Keywords

class, ; identity ; intersectionality ; race ; resistance; satire;symbolic capital

Les articles similaires

Mapping The Margins: Intersectional Analysis As A Philosophical Lens For Re-reading Ableism, Class, Gender And Race In George Eliot’s The Mill On The Floss (1860) And Nicola Yoon’s Everything Everything(2015)

Bouguettaya Imene . 
pages 125-149.

Race-related Civil Disturbances In Contemporary Britain: A Case Study Of Pakistanis In Post-2001 Race Riots Bradford

Zriba Hassen . 
pages 256-272.

Performance Of Social Class And Race In Zoë Wicomb’ S Playing In The Light And Danzy Senna’s Caucasia

Bourahla Djellou .  Maoui Houcine . 
pages 1083-1091.

Gender, Race, Class And The Tragic/heroic In W. Faulkner’s Sanctuary And Go Down, Moses And Eugene O’neill’s Anna Christie And Chris Christophersen

Arezki Khelifa . 
pages 19-35.

Présence Et Absence Dans « Tous Les Hommes N’habitent Pas Le Monde De La Même Façon » De Jean-paul Dubois. Presence And Absence In « All Men Do Not Live The World The Same Way » By Jean-paul Dubois

Ibrahim Ouhennou .  Mohammed Ajbilou . 
pages 16-19.

Formats de citation