Sociology and the Race Problem

Sociology and the Race Problem PDF

Author: James B. McKee

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9780252063282

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Tracing developments in the sociology of race relations from the 1920s to the 1960s, McKee maintains that sociologists assumed the United States would move unimpeded toward modernization and assimilation, aided by industrialization and urbanization. The fatal flaw in their perspective was the notion that blacks were culturally inferior, backward, and pre-modern, a people who had lost their own culture and couldn't grasp that of their new society. Designed to detail a failure the author says is widely acknowledged but little examined, this book will be of interest to both specialists and general readers. "Masterful. . . . McKee transports the reader back to the intellectual world in which the early sociologists worked and does not simply treat them as evil racists. His approach is informed by the sociology of knowledge." -- Lewis M. Killian, author of The Impossible Revolution, Phase 2: Black Power and the American Dream

Sociology in America

Sociology in America PDF

Author: Craig Calhoun

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2008-09-15

Total Pages: 930

ISBN-13: 0226090965

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Though the word “sociology” was coined in Europe, the field of sociology grew most dramatically in America. Despite that disproportionate influence, American sociology has never been the subject of an extended historical examination. To remedy that situation—and to celebrate the centennial of the American Sociological Association—Craig Calhoun assembled a team of leading sociologists to produce Sociology in America. Rather than a story of great sociologists or departments, Sociology in America is a true history of an often disparate field—and a deeply considered look at the ways sociology developed intellectually and institutionally. It explores the growth of American sociology as it addressed changes and challenges throughout the twentieth century, covering topics ranging from the discipline’s intellectual roots to understandings (and misunderstandings) of race and gender to the impact of the Depression and the 1960s. Sociology in America will stand as the definitive treatment of the contribution of twentieth-century American sociology and will be required reading for all sociologists. Contributors: Andrew Abbott, Daniel Breslau, Craig Calhoun, Charles Camic, Miguel A. Centeno, Patricia Hill Collins, Marjorie L. DeVault, Myra Marx Ferree, Neil Gross, Lorine A. Hughes, Michael D. Kennedy, Shamus Khan, Barbara Laslett, Patricia Lengermann, Doug McAdam, Shauna A. Morimoto, Aldon Morris, Gillian Niebrugge, Alton Phillips, James F. Short Jr., Alan Sica, James T. Sparrow, George Steinmetz, Stephen Turner, Jonathan VanAntwerpen, Immanuel Wallerstein, Pamela Barnhouse Walters, Howard Winant

Problem of the Century

Problem of the Century PDF

Author: Elijah Anderson

Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation

Published: 2001-07-19

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 1610448391

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In 1899 the great African American scholar, W.E.B. DuBois, published The Philadelphia Negro, the first systematic case study of an African American community and one of the foundations of American sociology. DuBois prophesied that the color line would be the problem of the twentieth century. One hundred years later, Problem of the Century reflects upon his prophecy, exploring the ways in which the color line is still visible in the labor market, the housing market, education, family structure, and many other aspects of life at the turn of a new century. The book opens with a theoretical discussion of the way racial identity is constructed and institutionalized. When the government classifies races and confers group rights upon them, is it subtly reenforcing damaging racial divisions, or redressing the group privileges that whites monopolized for so long? The book also delineates the social dynamics that underpin racial inequality. The contributors explore the causes and consequences of high rates of mortality and low rates of marriage in black communities, as well as the way race affects a person's chances of economic success. African Americans may soon lose their historical position as America's majority minority, and the book also examines how race plays out in the sometimes fractious relations between blacks and immigrants. The final part of the book shows how the color line manifests itself at work and in schools. Contributors find racial issues at play on both ends of the occupational ladder—among absentee fathers paying child support from their meager earnings and among black executives prospering in the corporate world. In the schools, the book explores how race defines a student's peer group and how peer pressure affects a student's grades. Problem of the Century draws upon the distinguished faculty of sociologists at the University of Pennsylvania, where DuBois conducted his research for The Philadelphia Negro. The contributors combine a scrupulous commitment to empirical inquiry with an eclectic openness to different methods and approaches. Problem of the Century blends ethnographies and surveys, statistics and content analyses, census data and historical records, to provide a far-reaching examination of racial inequality in all its contemporary manifestations.

Toward Freedom

Toward Freedom PDF

Author: Toure Reed

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2020-02-25

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1786634406

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“The most brilliant historian of the black freedom movement” reveals how simplistic views of racism and white supremacy fail to address racial inequality—and offers a roadmap for a more progressive, brighter future (Cornel West, author of Race Matters). The fate of poor and working-class African Americans—who are unquestionably represented among neoliberalism’s victims—is inextricably linked to that of other poor and working-class Americans. Here, Reed contends that the road to a more just society for African Americans and everyone else is obstructed, in part, by a discourse that equates entrepreneurialism with freedom and independence. This, ultimately, insists on divorcing race and class. In the age of runaway inequality and Black Lives Matter, there is an emerging consensus that our society has failed to redress racial disparities. The culprit, however, is not the sway of a metaphysical racism or the modern survival of a primordial tribalism. Instead, it can be traced to far more comprehensible forces, such as the contradictions in access to New Deal era welfare programs, the blinders imposed by the Cold War, and Ronald Reagan's neoliberal assault on the half-century long Keynesian consensus.

White Fragility

White Fragility PDF

Author: Dr. Robin DiAngelo

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2018-06-26

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 0807047422

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The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality. In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

W. E. B. DuBois on Sociology and the Black Community

W. E. B. DuBois on Sociology and the Black Community PDF

Author: W. E. B. DuBois

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1980

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9780226167602

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Historian, journalist, educator, and civil rights advocate W. E. B. Du Bois was perhaps most accomplished as a sociologist of race relations and of the black community in the United States. This volume collects his most important sociological writings from 1898 to 1910. The eighteen selections include five on Du Bois's conception of sociology and sociological research, especially as a tool in the struggle for racial justice; excerpts from studies of black communities in the South and the North, including The Philadelphia Negro; writings on black culture and social life, with a selection from The Negro American Family; and later works on race relations in the United States and elsewhere after World War II. This section includes a powerful fiftieth-anniversary reassessment of his classic 1901 article in the Atlantic in which he predicted that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." The editors provide an annotated bibliography, a lengthy overview of Du Bois's life and work, and detailed introductions to the selections. "The most significant contribution of this book is its inclusive look at Du Bois as both academic and activist. . . . Individuals interested in the study of social issues and political sociology would benefit from reading and discussing this book."—Paul Kriese, Sociology: Reviews of New Books "Green and Driver, informing this volume with a 48-page essay that summarizes Du Bois' career and places him in the context of the profession, have intelligently organized his writings. . . . A welcome contribution that should have wide use."—Elliott Rudwick, Contemporary Sociology

Theories of Race and Racism

Theories of Race and Racism PDF

Author: Les Back

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-05-17

Total Pages: 1229

ISBN-13: 1000567796

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Theories of Race and Racism: A Reader provides an overview of historical and contemporary debates in this vital and ever-evolving field of scholarship and research. Combining contributions from seminal thinkers, leading scholars and emergent voices, this reader provides a critical reflection on key trends and developments in the field. The contributions to this reader provide an overview of key areas of scholarship and research on questions of race and racism. It provides a novel perspective by bringing together readings on the key theoretical and historical processes in this area, the development of diverse theoretical viewpoints, the analysis of antisemitism, the role of colonialism and postcolonialism, feminist perspectives on race and the articulation of new accounts of the contemporary conjuncture. The contributions to this reader include classic works by the likes of W.E.B. DuBois, Stuart Hall and Frantz Fanon as well as timely pieces by contemporary scholars including Orlando Patterson, Patricia Hill Collins and Paul Gilroy. By bringing together a broad range of diverse accounts, Theories of Race and Racism: A Reader engages with various key areas of interest and is an invaluable guide for students and instructors seeking to explore issues of race and racism.