Race and Morality: How Good Intentions Undermine Social Justice and Perpetuate Inequality

by Melvyn L. Fein

Overview

After I had finished my presentation, a colleague and I sat rocking on the hotel porch to discuss its merits. It was a picture-perfect fall day in Jekyll Island Georgia, and he was a friend. Yes, he explained, what I was saying seemed to be true. And yes it probably needed to be said, but why did I want to be the one to say it? Wasn't I, after all, a tenured professor who didn't need to make a fuss in order to retain his job? Didn't it make sense to just kick back and enjoy the easy life I had earned? The topic of our tete-a-tete was my speculations about race relations and he was certain that too much honesty could only get me in trouble. Given my lack of political correct­ ness, people were sure to assume that I was a racist and not give me a fair hearing. This was a prospect I had previously contemplated. Long before embarking on this volume I had often asked myself why I wanted to write it. The ideological fervor that dominates our public dialogue on race guaran­ teed that some people would perceive me as a dangerous scoundrel who had to be put in his place.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461354765
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	09/24/2012
Series:	Clinical Sociology: Research and Practice
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2001
Pages:	356
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.03(d)

Table of Contents

1. Moral Invisibility.- Moral versus Status Invisibility.- A White Problem.- The Problem Misunderstood.- The Long View.- 2. Moral Enemies.- White Depravity.- Black Innocence.- The Nature of the Morality Game.- Playing the Game.- 3. “Died of a Theory”.- Taxi Driver.- Stereotypes Exposed.- Harlem.- Whose Ox?.- 4. The American Creed.- Values Under Assault.- Equality for All.- Liberty for All.- An Overdose of Radical Egalitarianism.- 5. The Culture of Slavery: Origins.- Morality and Culture.- A Conceptual Interlude.- Cultural Conservatism in Action.- The Origins of Slave Culture.- 6. The Culture of Slavery: Outcomes.- Transitions.- A Painful Story.- White Culture.- Black Culture.- 7. Racial “Empowerment”.- The Myth of Empowerment.- Tests of Strength.- A Floating Ceiling.- Situational Immaturity.- 8. Change Strategies.- Four Approaches to Change.- The Moral Model.- The Social Engineering Model.- The Clinical/Educational Model.- The Structural/Cultural Model.- 9. Natural Resocialization.- Cultural Change.- Role Change.- Intrapersonal Cultural Change.- Interpersonal/Intergenerational Cultural Change.- The Role of the Change Agent.- 10. The Black Middle Class.- The Change Process.- Mobility-Friendly Values.- 11. The White Middle Class.- White Enablers.- The Stewardship Role.- Change Among Whites.- A Shared Humanity.- Endnotes.

Editorial Reviews

'[...]it is well researched and provides a substantial amount of social thought on the issue of race equality that is collected in one place.'
Contemporary Sociology, 31 (2002)

From the Publisher

Acknowledging that it will almost certainly bring charges of racism against him, Fein (Kennesaw State U., Georgia) offers his own analysis of public policy on race and its consequences. He challenges an approach to race relations that assumes blacks to be weak and whites to be sinners, and that urges whites to convert from their transgressions and rescue blacks from the dilemma. Racism is not a moral problem, he argues, and it cannot be eradicated until its real nature is understood. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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