Transcript W.E.B. Du Bois - SOC 331: Foundations of Sociological Theory

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 Historical – for exposing intellectual and political schism
in the black community, between moderates such as
Booker T. Washington and more radical Du Bois
 accommodation vs agitation
 Social scientific – features a new “voice,” more “soulful”
than detached
 Facts alone not enough to motivate change
 Theoretical – for introducing interrelated concepts of the
color line, double consciousness and the veil
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 The color line is multidimensional, manifesting as:
 “racialized social institutions” (e.g., Jim Crow laws)
 “symbolic status hierarchy”
 “internalized attitude”
[See Fig. 7.2, p. 337.]
Nonrational
Color line
(internalized attitude)
A
C
T
I
O
N
Color line
(symbolic status hierarchy)
Collective
Individual
ORDER
Color line
(racialized social institutions)
Rational
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 Racialized social institutions: colonialism, slavery, Jim Crow
laws, redlining, ‘SAT’ (standardized testing regime more
broadly), the War on Drugs, i.e.,
 drug policy/policing/sentencing
 ‘differential punishment’ e.g., harsher penalties for
possession/distribution of ‘crack’ vs. (more expensive) ‘powder’
cocaine, which is more likely to be used by whites
 It begins with colonialism: “Once the color line began to pay
dividends” through the colonization and exploitation of Africa
and Africans beginning in the 15th century, race became
central to world history
 Africa’s poverty is inexorably linked to colonialism and
imperial domination – wealth of the colonial empires of
England, France, Germany and the U.S. “comes directly from
the darker races of the world”
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 Double consciousness manifests in:
 the power of white stereotypes on black life and thought
(dealing with the misrepresentation of one's own people
while also having the knowledge of reflexive truth)
 the racism that excluded black Americans from the
mainstream of society, being American or not American
 most significantly, the internal conflict between being
African and American simultaneously
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 GHM’s theory suggests that white racism, the ‘white
gaze,’ has consequences for the ‘self’ development of
blacks
 We attain selves through a developmental process
 Each individual learns to see herself as a distinct person,
but only insofar as other responds to that individual as an
individual
 In other words: we come to see ourselves as distinct
because others see us as distinct
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 Parallels Simmel’s discussion of The Stranger
 Both Simmel & Du Bois employ “veil” metaphor, to
convey the sense of separateness among people in
modern society
 The notion of double consciousness can be applied to
a range of other social categories considered “other”
 women, minorities of all kinds, the undocumented, the
disabled, and so on
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 Like Du Bois, Cooper emphasized giving “voice” to
submerged points of view
 Argues that categories such as race, gender, and class do
not capture, by themselves, the situation of black women
 The black woman “is confronted by both a woman
question and a race problem”
 Views higher education as the key to ending women’s
physical, emotional, and economic dependence on men
 Sided w/Du Bois et al. in the debate on strategies for black
empowerment and equality
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“After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the
Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son,
born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this
American world,--a world which yields him no selfconsciousness, but only lets him see himself through the
revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this
double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's
self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by
the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and
pity. One ever feels his two-ness,--an American, a Negro; two
souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring
ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it
from being torn asunder.”
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Nationally Publicized “White Gaze”
I couldn’t help but think of Fanon’s discussion of the “white gaze”
and Du Bois’ discussion of “double-consciousness” while watching
the Obama speech. Indeed, for most of the speech he seemed to
be defending himself–not only for his pastor’s actions–but for his
very existence as a black (and really biracial) man in America.
Particularly in the beginning to middle segments of the speech, I
felt his approach mirrored Du Bois’ travels within the “veil”. Indeed,
Obama offered a sort of apologetic narrative of blacks’
experiences, struggles, and history in America. None of these
stories would be particularly new for most blacks, but I suspect he
was attempting to reveal the psyche and mindset of blacks to a
white audience. Also like Souls of Black Folk, it was a speech
about blacks for whites–not necessarily for other black people…
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Nationally Publicized “White Gaze” (cont’d)
…I was also intrigued by the way in which race, religion, and nation
were so closely tied together in his speech. The only thing he
seemed to spend more time speaking about than his race was his
church. Here the “white gaze” seemed particularly prominent to
me, for–once again–he had to offer an apology for the merits of the
black church.
Finally, it is interesting to me that Obama even considers himself
and is labeled as “black” when he is in fact bi-racial. What does it
say about society that there is no room for ambiguity here, but that
we still today follow a sort of “one drop” rule? Further, it reminded
me of the problem of the mulatto in Douglass’ and Jacobs’ slave
narratives. For the mulatto points to the flaws in the racial logic and
categories. And, indeed, instead of embracing Obama’s multiculturalness, we as a society have pigeon-holed him into one neat
racial category. [emphasis added]
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Recent books by Michelle Alexander (The New Jim Crow:
Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 2010) and
Douglas Blackmon (Slavery by Another Name, 2008) argue
mass incarceration of blacks today is parallel to enslavement
and peonage laws, a new ‘Jim Crow’
 racialized social institution
In A Plague of Prisons: The Epidemiology of Mass
Incarceration in America, Ernest Drucker (CUNY-John Jay)
likens mass incarceration to an epidemic and advocates a
‘public health’ approach to the problem
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 Today there are more African Americans under correctional
control than there were enslaved in 1850
 1 in 3 young African American men will serve time in
prison if current trends continue, in some cities more than
half of all young adult black men are currently under
correctional control (Alexander, p. 9)
 As of 2004, more African American men were
disenfranchised (due to felon disenfranchisement laws)
than in 1870, the year the 15th Amendment was ratified,
prohibiting laws that explicitly deny the right to vote on the
basis of race
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 In 2011, 685,724 New Yorkers were stopped by the police, a
603% increase since the program began in 2002
 In 2002, stops totaled 97,296
 Of those stopped for street searches, nearly 9 out of 10
were completely innocent (neither arrested nor issued summons)
 87% were black or Latino
 350,743 black (53 %), 223,740 Latino (34 %), 61,805 white (9 %)
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 Type of stratification resembles caste, which Weber conceptualized as
status distinctions that become embedded in institutions, law, policy
This vast new racial undercaste — and I say “caste”, not “class,” because this
is a population which is locked into an inferior status by law and by policy
— this vast population has been rendered largely invisible through
affirmative action and the appearance of success with, you know, a handful
of African Americans doing well in universities and corporations…
Young men of color, in particular, are labeled as felons, labeled as criminals,
at very young ages, often before they even reach voting age, before they turn
eighteen. Their backpacks are searched. They’re frisked on the way to
school, while standing waiting for the school bus to arrive. Once they learn
to drive, their cars are searched, often dismantled in a search for drugs. The
drug war waged in these poor communities of color has created generations
of black and brown people who have been branded felons and relegated to a
permanent second-class status for life.
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AMENDMENT XIII
Section 1.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any
place subject to their jurisdiction. [emphasis added]
Section 2.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865.
Note: A portion of Article IV, section 2, of the Constitution was superseded
by the 13th amendment.
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 Status groups may evolve into closed castes
 Status distinctions may be guaranteed not merely by conventions
and laws, but also by religious sanctions
 Evolution of status to caste is more likely when underlying
differences are considered "ethnic“
 Ethnic segregation grown into a caste transforms horizontal and
unconnected coexistences of ethnically segregated groups into a
vertical social system of domination & subordination
 Remember:
 Ethnic communities are based on a belief of commonality
rather than any objective “racial differences”
 Relationship between ethnicity/race & social status is variable
 Undocumented immigrants might also be considered an “undercaste,”
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as lack of legal status leaves them without basic rights and protections
 Du Bois and Washington were on opposite sides of
critical political & intellectual debates within the black
community, debates that continue, in some form, today
 Du Bois was radical, Washington, moderate
 Washington promoted the Atlanta Compromise, a
conciliatory approach toward southern white supremacy,
whereas Du Bois favored confrontation
 Washington promoted industrial education in trades for
blacks, whereas Du Bois viewed higher education, at least
for the ‘Talented Tenth,’ as critical for the advancement of
all black people
 Talented Tenth would be the “vanguard”
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From Dark Water: Voices from Within the Veil
by W.E.B. Du Bois
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 A more radical critique than The Souls of Black Folk
 “The Souls of White Folk” focuses on the political
economy of race, racism, whiteness, and white
supremacy
 white supremacy is an ideology that shapes institutions,
both national and international
 It underpins Western imperialism and the global ‘status
hierarchy’ of nation-states
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The using of men for the benefit of masters is no new
invention of modern Europe. It is quite as old as the world.
But Europe proposed to apply it on a scale and with an
elaborateness of detail of which no former world ever
dreamed. The imperial width of the thing,—the heavendefying audacity—makes its modern newness. (368)
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Whither is this expansion?...How many of us today fully
realize the current theory of colonial expansion, of the
relation of Europe which is white, to the world which is
black and brown and yellow? Bluntly put, that theory is
this: It is the duty of white Europe to divide up the darker
world and administer it for Europe's good. (368)
 Colonial conquest as ‘White Man’s Burden’
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The scheme of Europe was no sudden invention, but a way out of
long-pressing difficulties. It is plain to modern white civilization that
the subjection of the white working classes cannot much longer be
maintained. Education, political power, and increased knowledge of
the technique and meaning of the industrial process are destined to
make a more and more equitable distribution of wealth in the near
future. The day of the very rich is drawing to a close, so far as
individual white nations are concerned. But there is a loophole. There
is a chance for exploitation on an immense scale for inordinate profit,
not simply to the very rich, but to the middle class and to the laborers.
This chance lies in the exploitation of darker peoples. It is here that
the golden hand beckons. Here are no labor unions or votes or
questioning onlookers or inconvenient consciences. These men may
be used down to the very bone, and shot and maimed in "punitive"
expeditions when they revolt. In these dark lands "industrial
development" may repeat in exaggerated form every horror of the
industrial history of Europe, from slavery and rape to disease and
maiming, with only one test of success,—dividends! (368-9)
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This theory of human culture and its aims has worked
itself through warp and woof of our daily thought with a
thoroughness that few realize. Everything great, good,
efficient, fair, and honorable is "white"; everything
mean, bad, blundering, cheating, and dishonorable is
"yellow"; a bad taste is "brown"; and the devil is "black."
The changes of this theme are continually rung in
picture and story, in newspaper heading and movingpicture, in sermon and school book, until, of course, the
King can do no wrong,—a White Man is always right and
a Black Man has no rights which a white man is bound
to respect. (369)
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The cause of war is preparation for war; and of all that
Europe has done in a century there is nothing that has
equaled in energy, thought, and time her preparation for
wholesale murder. The only adequate cause of this
preparation was conquest and conquest, not in Europe,
but primarily among the darker peoples of Asia and
Africa; conquest, not for assimilation and uplift, but for
commerce and degradation. For this, and this mainly,
did Europe gird herself at frightful cost for war.
(bottom, 369)
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 Walter Benn Michaels, author of The Trouble with Diversity: How
We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality argues
contemporary conceptions of justice focus on gaining respect for
difference, different social identities, rather than reducing
economic inequality
 Today, there are more differences between rich and poor than black
and white
 “Affirmative action is a policy designed to make rich, white people
feel better about themselves”
 a policy designed “to make sure the rich kids come in different colors”
 The crisis of education begins long before college, at the K-12 level
 Race is not the fundamental problem in US society
 It’s money and lack of money
 Poor people don’t want your respect, they want your money
 As far as money goes less, not more, diversity is what we want
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 In Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America (2010),
Eugene Robinson, sorts modern American blacks into 4
categories:
1) Transcendants: wealthy blacks, composed chiefly of
athletes, singers and media darlings
2) Abandoned: a "large minority" of African Americans that
sociologists used to call the “underclass” in the 1980s
3) Emergents: people who are biracial, children of parents
from Africa or the African diaspora, or, like Obama, both
4) Black mainstream: a "middle-class majority with a full
ownership stake in American society"
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