Middle-Class, Angry Blacks

Paper Summary:

This paper examines Cose's thesis, which claims that blacks of every economic level feel cheated on and abused by society. His theory focuses on the middle class, which is torn between its impoverished roots and its aspirations towards economic security. It discusses how Cose hopes to shed better light upon the fact that racism is never purely an economic issue, but a diffuse ideology that permeates the entirety of American society.

From the Paper:

"Interestingly enough, given his thesis, Cose does not use his book to unapologetically defend affirmative action. One would think that he might, given that one of the most common critiques of the policy is that it benefits middle-class Blacks because of their ethnic heritage and the psychological damage caused by history of discrimination in America. It does not similarly benefit whites who have been impoverished or Asians and other minority groups who may have been discriminated against in American history, albeit not as systematically as Black Americans, or in the form of slavery. However, Cose suggests that while affirmative action does address some of the psychological as well as economic legacies of America's intolerance of Blackness as well as the need for greater workplace diversity in general, he believes that other solutions are necessary to unshackle the minds of all peoples, of the legacy of discrimination. Thus, Cose's overall thesis or theoretical overview is a cautious, moderate one of greater societal education that lacks a central prescription to address the ills he highlights."

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