Race and Research: The Moynihan Report and the Politics of Controversy

2018 ◽  
pp. 66-70
Author(s):  
Aaron Wildavsky
Keyword(s):  
Moynihan Report

scholarly journals The Color Line Reconsidered

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-313
Author(s):  
Michael C. Dawson
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Immigrant Incorporation ◽  
Color Line ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Configuration ◽  
American Society ◽  
Rightward Movement ◽  
Moynihan Report ◽  
First Time

It is fitting that in the same issue that we present a previously unpublished article by W. E. B. Du Bois and host a symposium reviewing new major works on his political philosophy, we also present major essays debating the contours of the color line in the twenty-first century. Immigration and a strong rightward movement in American society are rapidly remaking the demographic and political configuration of the color line in the United States. Several essays in this issue debate critical aspects of this reconfiguration such as the relative importance of cultural versus structural causes of continued racial disparities; the role, if any, that racialization plays in shaping the modern immigrant incorporation into U.S. society; and, the legacy of the Moynihan report. Complementing these essays is a symposium on two major new books that provide fresh takes on the philosophical and theoretical relevance of Du Bois's thought for our times. We are also proud, for the first time anywhere, to publish Du Bois's essay, “The Social Significance of Booker T. Washington,” with an accompanying analytical introduction by Robert Brown.

Building the Blame

2018 ◽  
pp. 73-97
Author(s):  
Robin Marie Averbeck
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Culture Of Poverty ◽  
Racial Capitalism ◽  
Racial Liberalism ◽  
Black Poor ◽  
Moynihan Report

Chapter 4 explores the fate of the idea of a culture of poverty, tracing how it went from an idea articulated mostly by liberals for ostensibly liberal reasons to being a popular idea on the neoconservative right. It particularly explores how Daniel Patrick Moynihan contributed to this conservative version of the culture of poverty by his refusal to recognize the problems with the Moynihan Report and his engagement with neoconservative outlets and authors. Critiques of the culture of poverty articulated by leftists and civil rights activists are also explored, contrasting their emphases to that of Moynihan and other liberals and neoconservatives. The work of Edward Banfield is presented as the culmination of an idea which, while it originally tried to justify helping the black poor, ultimately ended up assisting a reactionary turn against them. The chapter argues, however, that this potential was built into the culture of poverty idea as articulated by liberalism, embedded as it was in racial capitalism. As it concludes, racial liberalism is liberal racism.

The Only American Community Where Men Call Each Other “Brother” When They Meet: Redefining Brotherhood and Sisterhood in the 1960s

Hurtin' Words ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 132-160
Author(s):  
Ted Ownby
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Family Life ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Racial Integration ◽  
African American Family ◽  
American Family ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Moynihan Report

This chapter describes activists who rejected the idea of a crisis in African American family life. In response to the Moynihan Report of 1965, many African Americans rejected claims about the weakness of family life, offering the strength and creativity embodied in adaptable family definitions. At the same time, many African Americans began using the terms “brother” and “sister” not as arguments about racial integration but to refer to the shared experiences of African American men and women.

A Culture of Poverty

2018 ◽  
pp. 52-72
Author(s):  
Robin Marie Averbeck
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Black Family ◽  
Culture Of Poverty ◽  
Racial Capitalism ◽  
History Of ◽  
Black Poverty ◽  
Moynihan Report

Chapter 3 traces the history of the idea of a culture of poverty while unpacking its racist content. Of particular importance is Daniel Patrick Moynihan and his report on the black family, known as the Moynihan Report. Chapter 3 explores how Moynihan distilled various tropes and memes in articulating a theory of black poverty that placed the primary blame on the supposed pathologies of the black family and community. Chapter 3 also explains the background of that idea and how the various versions of it differed, looking at the writing and work of Oscar Lewis, Michael Harrington, and Kenneth Clark among others. Also emphasized is how the culture of poverty idea allowed liberals to sidestep the issue of the role of capitalism and the market in black poverty, making it very effective for maintaining racial capitalism even during the height of the challenge from below the civil rights movement presented.

Zippin’ Up My Boots, Going Back to My Routes

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 186-197
Author(s):  
Eddie Chambers
Keyword(s):  
African Diaspora ◽  
Family Histories ◽  
The People ◽  
Racial Biases ◽  
Dominant Society ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Moynihan Report ◽  
Tv Show ◽  
The Way

This discussion essay on Hazel V. Carby’s Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands considers the contrasting ways the dominant society and the people of the African diaspora approach and regard research into family histories. Beginning with reflections on the somewhat dreaded though seemingly benign question, “Where are you from?,” the essay explores the shortcomings and racial biases of popular genealogical websites, contrasting these with the deeply and profoundly nuanced ways Carby’s book tackles fundamental questions, shortcomings, and difficulties in endeavors to trace ancestry. Along the way, the essay references Alex Haley’s Roots and then takes up the Moynihan Report and Maury Povich’s daytime TV show, Maury, both of which, the author asserts, reflect the pathology of depicting the black father as absent and deviant. The essay concludes with considerations of an inevitably settled yet nevertheless creatively fertile “mixed upness” of the creation of African diaspora family histories.

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