Confronting the American Dilemma of Race PDF Download

Author: Robert E. Washington
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 9780761822905
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
Confronting the American Dilemma of Race consists of twelve articles written by six authors about the second generation African American sociologists who embarked on their sociological careers between 1930 and 1950 when American society was embedded in a racial caste system. From the perspective of the sociology of knowledge, these articles, through examining the life experiences and works of these African American sociologists, reveal important insights into the impact of racial segregation on the development of both black sociology and the sociology of race relations.

Author: Jennifer L. Hochschild
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199839689
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
The American Dream and the Public Schools examines issues that have excited and divided Americans for years, including desegregation, school funding, testing, vouchers, bilingual education, and ability grouping. While these are all separate problems, much of the contention over them comes down to the same thing--an apparent conflict between policies designed to promote each student's ability to succeed and those designed to insure the good of all students or the nation as a whole. The authors show how policies to promote individual success too often benefit only those already privileged by race or class, and often conflict with policies that are intended to benefit everyone. They propose a framework that builds on our nation's rapidly changing population in order to help Americans get past acrimonious debates about schooling. Their goal is to make public education work better so that all children can succeed.

Author: Obie, Jr. Clayton
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 9780871541567
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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"This book must be regarded as a greatly important contribution to race relations literature. It is invaluable for the manner in which authors combine the lessons of history with insightful analyses of empirical data to demonstrate patterns of change over the past fifty years in the status of African Americans... Provocative and stimulating reading." —James E. Blackwell, University of Massachusetts, Boston "Presents a wide-ranging reanalysis of the seminal work done by Gunnar Myrdal in 1944, examining virtually every issue that Myrdal noted as relevant to the American race question. In so doing, Clayton and his contributors have brought the matter up to date and shown how the American dilemma continues into the twenty-first century." —Stanford M. Lyman, Florida Atlantic University Fifty years after the publication of An American Dilemma, Gunnar Myrdal's epochal study of racism and black disadvantage, An American Dilemma Revisited again confronts the pivotal issue of race in American society and explores how the status of African Americans has changed over the past half century. African Americans have made critical strides since Myrdal's time. Yet despite significant advances, strong economic and social barriers persist, and in many ways the plight of African Americans remains as acute now as it was then. Using Myrdal as a benchmark, each essay analyzes historical developments, examines current conditions, and investigates strategies for positive change within the core arenas of modern society—political, economic, educational, and judicial. The central question posed by this volume is whether the presence of a disproportionately African American underclass has become a permanent American phenomenon. Several contributors tie the unevenness of black economic mobility to educational limitations, social isolation, and changing workplace demands. The evolution of a more suburban, service-dominated economy that places a premium on advanced academic training has severely constrained the employment prospects of many urban African Americans with limited education. An American Dilemma Revisited argues that there is hope to be found both in black educational institutions, which account for the largest proportion of advanced educational degrees among African Americans, and in the promotion of black community enterprises. An American Dilemma Revisited asks why the election of many African American leaders has failed to translate into genuine political power or effective policy support for black issues. The rise in membership in Pentecostal and Islamic denonimations suggests that many blacks, frustrated with the political detachment of more traditional churches, continue to pursue more socially concerned activism at a local level. Three essays trace social disaffection among blacks to a legacy of police and judicial discrimination. Mistrust of the police persists, particularly in cities, and black offenders continue to experience harsher treatment at all stages of the trial process. As Myrdal's book did fifty years ago, An American Dilemma Revisited offers an insightful look at the continuing effects of racial inequality and discrimination in American society and examines different means for removing the specter of racism in the United States.

Author: Jennifer L. Hochschild
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400821738
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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The ideology of the American dream--the faith that an individual can attain success and virtue through strenuous effort--is the very soul of the American nation. According to Jennifer Hochschild, we have failed to face up to what that dream requires of our society, and yet we possess no other central belief that can save the United States from chaos. In this compassionate but frightening book, Hochschild attributes our national distress to the ways in which whites and African Americans have come to view their own and each other's opportunities. By examining the hopes and fears of whites and especially of blacks of various social classes, Hochschild demonstrates that America's only unifying vision may soon vanish in the face of racial conflict and discontent. Hochschild combines survey data and vivid anecdote to clarify several paradoxes. Since the 1960s white Americans have seen African Americans as having better and better chances to achieve the dream. At the same time middle-class blacks, by now one-third of the African American population, have become increasingly frustrated personally and anxious about the progress of their race. Most poor blacks, however, cling with astonishing strength to the notion that they and their families can succeed--despite their terrible, perhaps worsening, living conditions. Meanwhile, a tiny number of the estranged poor, who have completely given up on the American dream or any other faith, threaten the social fabric of the black community and the very lives of their fellow blacks. Hochschild probes these patterns and gives them historical depth by comparing the experience of today's African Americans to that of white ethnic immigrants at the turn of the century. She concludes by claiming that America's only alternative to the social disaster of intensified racial conflict lies in the inclusiveness, optimism, discipline, and high-mindedness of the American dream at its best.

Author: Roy L. Brooks
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520078789
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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"A path-breaking analysis of the advent and consequences of deep class stratification in African American society since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Characterized by breadth of vision and reflective realism, Rethinking the American Race Problem is a worthy and welcome successor to Gunnar Myrdal's seminal work, The American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, published almost half a century ago."—Boris I. Bittker, Yale University "Insightful, tightly argued, and deeply felt. . . . This brilliant book will affect the thinking of all who read it."—William A. Fletcher, University of California "Rethinking the American Race Problem challenges the conventional understanding of the problem of race relations in the United States."—Gerrald Torres, University of Minnesota "Offers a fresh and intellectually provocative perspective on the relationship between race and public policy in today's America."—Martin Kilson, Harvard University

Author: Nancy DiTomaso
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610447891
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s seemed to mark a historical turning point in advancing the American dream of equal opportunity for all citizens, regardless of race. Yet 50 years on, racial inequality remains a troubling fact of life in American society and its causes are highly contested. In The American Non-Dilemma, sociologist Nancy DiTomaso convincingly argues that America's enduring racial divide is sustained more by whites' preferential treatment of members of their own social networks than by overt racial discrimination. Drawing on research from sociology, political science, history, and psychology, as well as her own interviews with a cross-section of non-Hispanic whites, DiTomaso provides a comprehensive examination of the persistence of racial inequality in the post-Civil Rights era and how it plays out in today's economic and political context. Taking Gunnar Myrdal's classic work on America's racial divide, The American Dilemma, as her departure point, DiTomaso focuses on "the white side of the race line." To do so, she interviewed a sample of working, middle, and upper-class whites about their life histories, political views, and general outlook on racial inequality in America. While the vast majority of whites profess strong support for civil rights and equal opportunity regardless of race, they continue to pursue their own group-based advantage, especially in the labor market where whites tend to favor other whites in securing jobs protected from market competition. This "opportunity hoarding" leads to substantially improved life outcomes for whites due to their greater access to social resources from family, schools, churches, and other institutions with which they are engaged. DiTomaso also examines how whites understand the persistence of racial inequality in a society where whites are, on average, the advantaged racial group. Most whites see themselves as part of the solution rather than part of the problem with regard to racial inequality. Yet they continue to harbor strong reservations about public policies—such as affirmative action—intended to ameliorate racial inequality. In effect, they accept the principles of civil rights but not the implementation of policies that would bring about greater racial equality. DiTomaso shows that the political engagement of different groups of whites is affected by their views of how civil rights policies impact their ability to provide advantages to family and friends. This tension between civil and labor rights is evident in Republicans' use of anti-civil rights platforms to attract white voters, and in the efforts of Democrats to bridge race and class issues, or civil and labor rights broadly defined. As a result, DiTomaso finds that whites are, at best, uncertain allies in the fight for racial equality. Weaving together research on both race and class, along with the life experiences of DiTomaso's interview subjects, The American Non-Dilemma provides a compelling exploration of how racial inequality is reproduced in today's society, how people come to terms with the issue in their day-to-day experiences, and what these trends may signify in the contemporary political landscape.

Author: Zoë Burkholder
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190605138
Category : EDUCATION
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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"Since Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 Americans have viewed school integration as a central tenet of the black civil rights movement. Yet, school integration was not the only-or even always the dominant-civil rights strategy. At times, African Americans also fought for separate, Black-controlled schools dedicated to racial uplift, community empowerment, and self-determination. An African American Dilemma offers a social history of debates over school integration within northern Black communities from the 1840s to the present. This broad geographical and temporal focus reveals that northern Black educational activists vacillated between a preference for either school integration or separation during specific eras. Yet, as there was never a consensus, this study also highlights the chorus of dissent, debate, and counter-narratives that pushed families to consider a fuller range of educational reforms. A sweeping historical analysis that covers the entire history of public education in the North, this study complicates our understanding of school integration by highlighting the diverse perspectives of Black students, parents, teachers, and community leaders all committed to improving public education. It finds that Black school integrationists and separatists have worked together in a dynamic tension that fueled effective strategies for educational reform and the black civil rights movement. This study draws on an enormous range of archival data including the black press, school board records, social science studies, the papers of civil rights activists, and court cases"--

Author: Jennifer Lynn Eberhardt
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1452250375
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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The contributors to this volume identify the cognitive and motivational influences on the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergroup processes that lead to racism. Confronting Racism establishes a unique link between public discourse on race and social scientific analysis. Covering theory, implications for policy and applications to education, employment, crime, politics, and health; the book provides a collective account of the variety of racial outcomes and dynamics that result from the complex and multifaceted nature of racism and race relations.

Author: Gunnar Myrdal
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351531999
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 824

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Book Description
In this landmark effort to understand African American people in the New World, Gunnar Myrdal provides deep insight into the contradictions of American democracy as well as a study of a people within a people. The title of the book, An American Dilemma, refers to the moral contradiction of a nation torn between allegiance to its highest ideals and awareness of the base realities of racial discrimination. The touchstone of this classic is the jarring discrepancy between the American creed of respect for the inalienable rights to freedom, justice, and opportunity for all and the pervasive violations of the dignity of blacks. The appendices are a gold mine of information, theory, and methodology. Indeed, two of the appendices were issued as a separate work given their importance for systematic theory in social research. The new introduction by Sissela Bok offers a remarkably intimate yet rigorously objective appraisal of Myrdal—a social scientist who wanted to see himself as an analytic intellectual, yet had an unbending desire to bring about change. An American Dilemma is testimonial to the man as well as the ideas he espoused. When it first appeared An American Dilemma was called "the most penetrating and important book on contemporary American civilization" by Robert S. Lynd; "One of the best political commentaries on American life that has ever been written" in The American Political Science Review; and a book with "a novelty and a courage seldom found in American discussions either of our total society or of the part which the Negro plays in it" in The American Sociological Review. It is a foundation work for all those concerned with the history and current status of race relations in the United States.

Author: Margaret L. Andersen
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538129841
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
Comprehensive yet concise, Margaret Andersen’s Race in Society, Second Edition is a topical introduction to race and ethnicity organized around four key questions: What does the idea of race mean and where does it come from? What are the consequences of the social construction of race? How is racial inequality structured into social institutions? What are different policies and approaches for change toward racial justice? In her accessible, student-friendly style, Andersen introduces readers to the current scholarship on race, including recent studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests following the murder of George Floyd. New to this edition: New coverage of the effects of COVID-19 included throughout the book, including its impact on anti-Asian racism, violent crime, racial disparities in health care, and people of color in low wage service jobs Expanded discussion of immigration, including US politics about immigration and national borders displays the connection between immigration and racialization Updated discussion of policing, police violence, and both historical and contemporary acts of vigilante “justice” against people of color Updated information on residential and educational segregation including new material on the racial achievement gap and the effects of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic