A race is a very definite social construction which alters over the course of time due to historical and social pressures. Racial formation, then, is the process by which these socio-historical designations of race are created and manipulated.
Racial formation explains the definition and redefinition of specific race identities.
There are, however, two distinct levels upon which racial formation takes place. Two, the micro-level, involves common sense and every day experiences. The common facilitator of macro and micro level processes is the racial state. The racial state typically determines hegemony in racial formations, but can also alter this race hegemony if its trajectory takes it in such a direction. Racial formation would occur similarly to the following sequence of events.